un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PROGRAMME

2008 ANNUAL REPORT

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DISCLAIMER

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this report do not imply of any
opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal
status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation
of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development.
The analysis conclusions and recommendations of this publication do not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Governing Council.

Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme

(UN-HABITAT), 2009

UN-HABITAT ANNUAL REPORT 2008

HS Number: HS/1120/09E
ISBN Number (Volume): 978-92-1-132086-2
ISBN Number (Series): 978-92-113-1928-6

All rights reserved

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)

P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel +254 20 762 3120
Fax +254 20 762 3477
www.unhabitat.org

Editor: Thierry Naudin

Editorial Assistants: Tom Osanjo, Eric Orina
Design and layout: Marta Gonzálvez
Printer: UNON Printshop
Cover Photo © UN-HABITAT
Printed in Nairobi

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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

contents

A message from the Executive Director 6

Chapter 1: Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring 8

Chapter 2: Promotion of participatory planning,

management and governance 22

Chapter 3: Promotion of pro-poor land and housing 30

Chapter 4: Environmentally sound basic infrastructure

and services 36

Chapter 5: Strengthened human settlement finance systems 40

Chapter 6: Excellence in management 46

2008 milestones 52

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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
D
aunting and
pressing as
they are,
environmental
issues like climate change
and energy depletion do
more than challenge our
current social and economic
patterns. With forensic
clarity, they also highlight all
the factors and forces, from
individual to national to
global level and back, whose interactions make our 21st
century cities so complex – and so vibrant. This was one
of the big lessons we learned in the year 2008.
Today and more than ever before, cities are home to
humanity’s great expectations. The challenges are there
for all to see day after day. Meeting those challenges
would open up a wealth of opportunities for all. Much
as we should like to control them, the best we can
probably do at this stage is to make sense of the forces
behind urbanization, and try to steer them in the right
direction.
Against this background, UN-HABITAT showed again
in 2008 that it is particularly well-placed both as an
observatory and a catalyst of the forces at play in
urbanization. Cities have acted as engines of national
development for decades, yet in almost every country
in the world the responsibility for them is fragmented
among various government departments and local
authorities. By comparison, UN-HABITAT’s mandate
in the international sphere is uniquely focused on
urban needs: sustainable shelter and cities for all, as
mandated by the Habitat Agenda and the Millennium
Development Goals.
We are also one of those rare United Nations
institutions that combine hands-on with operational
and normative approaches, which we can bring to good
effect on the ground, as this Annual Report recounts
in some detail. We even go one step further: we are in
a position to deal with the local communities whose
advancement we directly are mandated to promote.
With this you could think that we at UN-HABITAT are in
control of the whole chain.
The fact is that we are, and we are not!
6
UN-HABITAT field staff are local and therefore well
aware of local needs, requirements, challenges and
constraints. This enables us adjust to local circumstances
to the instruments and policies devised by UN-HABITAT
experts in order to improve urban conditions.
As a UN institution, we were able yet again in 2008
to influence national government policies and help
align these to the international agenda as defined at
a series of major meetings, from the 16th Session of
the Commission on Sustainable Development in New
York in May to the UN-sponsored climate change
negotiations in Poznan, Poland in December.
Top of the list of these meetings was the fourth session
of the World Urban Forum. The Forum held in Nanjing,
China in November 2008, has now clearly established
itself on the international agenda as the world’s
premier conference on cities, where a broad range of
participants meet to discuss a comprehensive agenda.
We also worked hard during the year to help central
and local governments to strengthen their abilities in
every aspect of urban life – legislation, policy-making
and decentralization, along with the building of
administrative, managerial, operational and financial
capacities.
Again, in this sense we could think that we are in
control. But here again, we are not.
As noted earlier, a wide variety of factors are at
play in 21st century urbanization. With the myriad
opportunities it can create for all segments of society,
the private sector is a major shaping force in cities, and
municipal authorities across the world are well aware
that their specific comparative advantage has a lot to do
with their attractiveness for business.
Much as cities can be springboards of opportunity,
though, they are also home to increasing social
disparities, poverty, pollution, waste and environmental
problems. This is the sort of damage which
environmental and welfare-oriented civil society
organizations seek to mitigate, often filling in for the
shortcomings of business or public authorities.
For all those efforts, expanding slums reflect the extent
to which the poor are both victims and unwilling agents
of environmental degradation and the informal economy.
Just as slums are the unacceptable face of economic
and urban policy failure, disasters and conflicts further
 A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

point to our collective state of unpreparedness in an
extreme and cruel sort of way. Even the short-term
future catches us unprepared, and all-too often cities
plan blind, if at all. No wonder, then, that UN-HABITAT
found itself helping rebuild homes and lives after
conflict and disasters, from Lebanon to Afghanistan to
Indonesia to Peru over the course of 2008.
Let’s face it: realities have overtaken our well-established
formal systems. These realities are so complex and
intricately linked that no single type of power, political,
administrative, economic or social, can expect to exert
any influence over them on their own. Most of us also
know that even collectively, we cannot change those
systems wholesale overnight.
What we can do together, though, is to form
partnerships for gradual change. We are looking to
do more with the academic world and civil society.
In the private sector, we work with companies that
have joined the United Nations Global Compact, a UN
initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt
sustainable and socially responsible policies in the areas
of human rights, labour, the environment, social services
delivery, and anti-corruption.
our cities and their future, and within reach of the levers
that can influence these cross-currents.
This is why UN-HABITAT’s Medium-Term Strategic
and Institutional Plan (2008-2013) is anchored on the
principle of partnerships, rather than on the capacities
of the United Nations or of UN-HABITAT alone.  It
focuses on six key areas, each of which we have chosen
as a chapter heading for this Annual Report.
As agreed by the 58 member States of the Governing
Council which oversees our work programme and
budget, these areas are: (i) effective advocacy,
monitoring and partnerships; (ii) the promotion of
participatory planning, management and governance;
(iii) the promotion of pro-poor land and housing; (iv)
environmentally sound basic infrastructure and services;
(v) strengthened human settlements finance systems;
and an institutional component, (vi) excellence in
management.
Thanks to partnerships in all our areas of operations, we
at UN-HABITAT can act as catalysts in order to change
today’s daunting urban challenges into sustainable
opportunities – for all.

With its rich range of well-articulated operational,

technical and conceptual expertise, UN-HABITAT
showed again in 2008 that it is uniquely placed to
strengthen local capacities and leverage all available
public or private resources and energies in favour of
positive urban change. We did so for local communities
and authorities through participatory governance,
paving the way for vibrant, rights-based civil societies as
well as sustained social and economic stabilization. This
in turn creates opportunities for the private sector to
test more sustainable economic models on the ground,
opening up new business perspectives.

Donors recognize UN-HABITAT’s unique role, especially

as we work as one, and also increasingly with other
United Nations agencies as part of the ‘One UN’
initiative that is already bearing fruit in many countries.
In 2008, UN-HABITAT devised more than 20 such ‘One
UN’ programmes in as many developing countries.

Our multiple partnerships also act for us as channels for

constant dialogue, especially with municipal authorities, Anna K. Tibaijuka
grassroots civil society organizations and business firms.
Partners keep us ever alert to fresh concerns and best Executive Director, UN-HABITAT
practice, responsive to any shifts in the forces shaping Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

CHAPTER 1:
Effective advocacy, partnerships
and monitoring

“Enable all key stakeholders in the public,

private and community sectors to play an
effective role – at the national, state/provincial,
metropolitan and local levels – in
human settlements and shelter development.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

8

In this area, the strategic goal for UN-HABITAT
is to improve urban policies from
the local to the global level.
Advocacy
As part of efforts to ensure
sustainability of local ownership of
projects and policies, UN-HABITAT
maximizes the use of national expertise
and procurement, supporting national
execution in developing and transition
countries. In 2008, more than 90 per
cent of UN-HABITAT’s project personnel
were national experts. From a longer-
term point of view, this ensures stability,
ownership and mainstreaming of
recognized international standards in
national policies.
50 countries
As of the fourth quarter of 2008,
UN-HABITAT had cooperation
programmes and projects under
execution in 50 countries, the
majority of which were in the least
developed countries. More than 20
other countries were benefitting from
the support of UN-HABITAT’s global
programmes.
As a direct response to increasing
demands from developing countries,
the organisation’s in-country activities
have grown significantly over the last
decades from expenditures totalling
USD 18.7 million in 1988 to close to
USD 100 million in 2008.
Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring
Technical partnerships
UN-HABITAT’s country-level
activities are focused on supporting
governments in the formulation of
policies and strategies to create and
strengthen a self-reliant management
capacity. In some countries,
partnerships with local stakeholders
– including central or local government
and non-governmental organizations
– require some capacity-building if they
are to be effective.
Technical and managerial expertise
(including monitoring activities and
collection of data and best-practice)
is provided for the assessment of
the development problems and
opportunities specific to human
settlements.
Country-level activities also seek to
identify and analyze policy options,
design and implement housing and
urban development programmes,
help mobilize national resources and
external support for improving human
settlements conditions.
This national capacity-building
process involves central government
institutions, local authorities, and their
partners in community based and
non-governmental organizations,
universities, and research institutes.
Emphasis is also placed on
strengthening monitoring capacities
of governments in human settlements
management.
Lessons learned from country-level
activities go into the formulation of
global policy options and guidelines.
Partnerships
Partnerships with a wide range of
institutions and bodies are the linchpin
of UN-HABITAT’s operational, capacity-
building and even normative activities.
They enable the agency to play its full
role as a catalyst for all the resources
– human, technical, institutional and
financial – required to bring about
sustainable urban change, and 2008
saw some more progress on this
score. This chapter provides a general
overview of UN-HABITAT partnerships
and advocacy in 2008, the specifics of
which are detailed in further, relevant
chapters of this report.
Stronger links with the UN
system
The pilot deployment of the One
UN programme in eight countries
in 2008 has further reinforced UN-
HABITAT’s operational links with other
UN agencies, with each contributing
their own comparative advantage to
projects. The list includes:
Food and Agriculture Organization,
International Labour Organization,
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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

More regional ‘State of the Cities’ reports

Also in 2008, a State of of Latin American and

Russian Cities report was Caribbean Cities report
the outcome of cooperation with the UN Economic
between UN-HABITAT Commission for Latin
and Russia’s Ministry of America and the Caribbean,
Regional Development. The will be published to coincide
report available in Russian with the 5th World Urban
(CD and paperback) and Forum to be held in Rio de
English (CD only)) describes Janeiro, Brazil in 2010.
the impact of the ongoing
The 2008 State of the
transformation process on
World’s Cities highlights
Russian cities and highlights
some disturbing new
challenges and achievements
trends, which include
in implementing the
the fact that growing
Habitat Agenda and the
inequalities in income and
Millennium Development
access to adequate shelter
Goals. The first of its kind,
UN-HABITAT’s have become socially and
this document includes
authoritative, biennial State economically unsustainable,
analysis and data from local
of the World’s Cities report posing such threats as social
urban observatories in four
(now in its fourth edition) is unrest, reduced economic
Russian cities, applying
a major plank in the agency’s efficiency, reduced level of
methodologies worked out
advocacy efforts and regional investments and, diversion
with the assistance of the
or country reports are now of funds to security; no
UN-HABITAT Global
underway in partnership fewer than 25 million
Urban Observatory.
with UN regional economic people in Africa are at
commissions. UN-HABITAT is risk of sea level rise from
currently working with the climate change, with the
The series of UN-
UN Economic and Social most vulnerable cities being
HABITAT regional surveys
Commission for Asia-Pacific Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire),
started in late 2008 with the
on the first State of Asian- Alexandria (Egypt),
first State of African Cities
Pacific Cities report, to be Cotonou (Benin), Dakar
Report – A framework for
published in October 2009 (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra
addressing urban challenges
with the UN Economic and Leone), Lagos (Nigeria),
in Africa, in cooperation
Social Commission for Asia. Maputo (Mozambique),
with the UN Economic
Mombasa (Kenya) and
Commission for Africa. Another ‘first’, the State
Tunis (Tunisia).

10

One UN Fund, UN Capital
Development Fund, UN Development
Programme, UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UN
International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of
Women, UN Non-Governmental
Liaison Service, UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, and the UN Special
Rapporteur on Adequate Housing.
The scheme enables every agency to
contribute its own specific experience
and expertise to operational and
technical UN-HABITAT projects.
The agency also worked closely with
the UN Central Emergency Response
Fund, International Organization
for Migration, the UN Economic
Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean, the UN Economic and
Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring
Social Commission for Asia-Pacific,
UNESCO, UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, the UN Industrial
Development Organization, the UN
Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, the UN Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN
Population Fund, World Bank, World
Food Programme and World Health
Organization.
In June 2008 UN-HABITAT joined
the United Nations Inter-Agency
Standing Committee, putting the
institution on a new footing in global
humanitarian operations. It was
agreed that UN-HABITAT would take
the lead role in the shelter sector. The
Committee was established in 1992
to shape UN humanitarian policy
and ensure coordinated and effective
response to crises.
Other, non-UN institutional partners in
2008 included the Council of Europe
Development Bank, the European
Commission, the African, Asian and
Inter-American Development Banks
and the Organization of American
States. Some of these partnerships are
going to be strengthened in 2009, and
extend to the European Investment
Bank.
Government partnerships
As an inter-governmental institution,
UN-HABITAT works in close cooperation
with the central governments of
countries in need of assistance and of
donor countries (including international
cooperation agencies). Details of such
cooperation appear in the successive
sections of this report.
Aerial view of Durban, South Africa, 2002.
Photo © UN-HABITAT
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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

UN-HABITAT also acts as a catalyst for

public policy-making. A good example
of this was the second Asia-Pacific
Ministerial Conference on Housing
and Urban Development. Held in
mid-May 2008 in the Iranian capital
Tehran, the event brought a fresh focus
on sustainable urban development
as participants highlighted the links
between growth, equity and identity.
The meeting took place against a
background where, with the current
average urbanization rate of 42 percent
and a growth rate of 2.5 percent in the
region, cities in Asia-Pacific will have to
accommodate an additional 1.7 billion
people in the next 40 years. This will
represent a doubling of the current
urban population.
World Habitat Day 2008
On 6 October 2008 the global celebration of World Habitat Day
was held in Angola’s capital Luanda under the theme of ‘Harmonious
Cities’.
Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos and senior officials
of his government joined UN-HABITAT in the celebration. He
took the opportunity to announce a series of major social housing
initiatives. These included a plan to upgrade towns, cities and villages
for the benefit of all as well as a new national housing programme.
At a ceremony, best practices from China, Mexico, Russia and
Rwanda were awarded the Scroll of Honour. The United Kingdom
Building and Social Housing Foundation presented its own World
Habitat Award to best practices from the USA and Vietnam.

In Tehran government ministers and

representatives from 37 countries
adopted an action plan to guide
regional cooperation in the area of
sustainable urban development, which
also underpins UN-HABITAT’s Medium-
term Strategic and Institutional Plan for
2008-2011. The action plan focuses
on five key themes: urban and rural UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour awarded to the City of Juarez, Mexico at the Global
planning management, urban slum Celebrations of World Habitat Day 2008 in Luanda, Angola.
Photo © Copyright owned by BSHF
upgrading, water and sanitation,
housing finance and natural disasters.

organizations to further common and future partnerships with civil

Civil society partnerships
Civil society organizations bring their
expertise to bear on UN-HABITAT’s
projects, technical activities and
research. The fact that 26 percent of
all the new legal arrangements UN-
HABITAT contracted in 2008 were with
non-governmental and community-
based organizations highlights the
major role of civil society in the local
implementation of the Habitat
Agenda and the relevant Millennium
Development Goals.
UN-HABITAT is almost unique in
that it deals directly with grassroots
objectives. Community-based
organizations are ideally placed
to activate networks and provide
information on which projects can
build, as well as to know the status of
what is being or has been implemented
on the ground. International non-
governmental organizations mobilize
their own, broader networks with
their own unique perspectives and
knowledge. UN-HABITAT’s role is to
leverage these resources in order to
promote the Habitat Agenda and the
Millennium Development Goals.
In order to make the most of ongoing
society organizations, UN-HABITAT in
2008 devised a dedicated cooperative
communication framework. The
relevant draft proposal has been
submitted for comment to a wide
range of organizations.
From a more strategic point of view,
the 4th World Urban Forum (WUF)
held in Nanjing, China in November
2008 gave UN-HABITAT a major
opportunity for closer dialogue with
civil society as represented there by
major international and smaller, local
organizations and businesses from
around the world. Their strategies with

12
 Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring

Welcome to the Habitat UN-HABITAT advises on food crisis

Business Forum 2009!
Innovative Cities will be
the theme of the first Habitat
Business Forum, to be held
in New Delhi, India on
7-9 July 2009. The event
will provide international
business and industry a
privileged opportunity to
rekindle direct links or
network with representatives
of relevant public, private,
professional, academic and
non-governmental bodies.
The forum will discuss a
number of topical themes
including: affordable land
and housing; water, sanitation
and waste management;
‘green’ technologies; the
digital city; and disaster
prevention, management
and reconstruction. The
2009 Business Forum will
be held in partnership with
the Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and
Industries and the China
Real Estate Chamber of
Commerce.
Coming in the aftermath of food shortages and related unrest in
the region, the 2008 State of the African Cities Report co-authored with
the UN Economic Commission for Africa gave UN-HABITAT an
opportunity to formulate a number of topical recommendations for
governments.
Devising dynamic and effective urban supply and distribution
services for Africa is a matter of great concern as the population in
urban areas is expected double by the year 2030.
Today, food patterns have changed with the rise of Africa’s middle
classes, and the region’s food production and supply systems are
less and less able to meet urban demand for six main reasons: (i)
the development of dependable food infrastructure (production,
transport, markets, industry) is not keeping pace with urban growth;
(ii) urban food demand outstrips the production capacity of the
surrounding areas; (iii) urban spatial expansion increasingly converts
peri-urban food producing areas to other uses; (iv) changing urban
socio-economic composition raises demand for different staple foods,
including imported and highly processed foods, (v) urban regulation
and multi-storey buildings change food cultures, and (vi) urban rather
than rural markets are becoming the source of food supply, with
transportation costs assuming a rapidly growing share of food prices.
The joint recommendations from the two UN agencies are that
governments should strategically position themselves for changing urban
food requirements as well as for the need for supply strategies and systems
in the short, medium and longer terms, if they are to continue to feed their
increasingly urban societies.
Governments should stimulate agricultural production, improve
infrastructure to facilitate inputs into agriculture and outputs from
agriculture to cities, and make sure that proper water management
enables conversion of non-productive areas to food production for
internal use and future export.

regard to sustainable urbanization
were discussed at length with UN-
HABITAT and other partners.
Civil society is also a partner in
UN-HABITAT’s normative (or policy-
oriented) activities, with the twin aim
of providing up-to-date research and
to reach out to a wider audience. This
takes the form of various publications
which provide back-up and guidance
for both capacity-building and
operational activities of UN-HABITAT
and relevant partners.
In 2008 UN-HABITAT worked in
partnership with some 40 major
non-governmental organizations
from all major regions and cultural
backgrounds of the world, with
agendas ranging from housing to
water to women’s empowerment to
youth to human rights to emergency
relief.

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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

4th World Urban Forum: Swelling cities pose fresh global challenges, leaders warn

At the epoch-making Fourth Session of the UN-
HABITAT World Urban Forum hosted by the Chinese
city of Nanjing, the strongest message coming out
was that the swelling cities of the world are posing
fresh challenges every day. The 3-6 November 2008
Forum drew nearly 8,000 participants from some 155
countries, with its exhibition alone attracting more than
20,000 visitors in just four days.
These staggering figures are testimony to the fact
that the Forum, held every two years, is now firmly
established as the world’s premier conference on cities.
The buzzword on everyone’s lips was “harmonious
urbanization”, and barely a speaker missed a chance to
give their views of what a harmonious city is all about.
Setting the tone in the opening statement, Mr. Jiang
Hongkun, the Mayor of Nanjing, said:  “Building
harmonious cities is our vision. This session of the
Forum convened to discuss the theme, harmonious
urbanization, will promote new ways of building cities
at home and abroad.”
The city was adorned with flyers and posters
welcoming Forum visitors and laser light shows lit
up the night skies from high rise buildings in the
modernized city.
Against the background of the global financial crisis,
world leaders at the meeting warned that new threats
had emerged on the international development agenda,
as developing countries grapple with the effects of the
growing tide of people swarming cities in search of
better livelihoods.
Kenya’s Prime Minister , Mr. Raila Odinga said the
urbanization challenge now facing countries in the
developing world had already snowballed into a “crisis
of global dimensions” while United Nations officials
warned some 1.2 billion slum dwellers worldwide may
be forced deeper into poverty by prevailing economic
conditions.
New studies published by UN-HABITAT at the
Forum showed that some five million people were
being added to the population of the world’s cities
every month, as demographic changes ensured that
humankind became irreversibly urban in 2008.
Said Mr. Odinga: “The UN predicts that by 2030,
the number of city inhabitants will be over five billion,
or 60 per cent of the world’s population. We have been
warned that unless policy makers undertake a radical
rethink, we face disaster. When we look at the progress
of human migration to urban centres over the years,
we will know that time is not on our side, and we will
treat 2030 or 2050 as if they were next year, if not next
week.”
In her address, Mrs. Tibaijuka, said: “Since the end
of last year, we have witnessed a succession of crises, the
scale and pace of which took us all by surprise. The year
started with a fuel and food crisis, after climate change
had been confirmed as a fact of life to which we must
adapt or perish. Before we could come to grips with
these serious matters, a sub-prime mortgage meltdown
in the United States was to unleash a financial crisis
whose contagion has been so fast and so vast that the
entire world is now grappling with the effects.
“The financial crisis, the threat of global recession
and the huge swings in commodity prices and
stock markets further threaten the foundations of
globalization that have underpinned global growth
for the past decade. We are witnessing a resurgence of
protectionism combined with credit contraction that
can further exacerbate and worsen a global recession.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also warned
delegates that the attainment of the Millennium

14

Development Goals could be threatened if the
urbanization crisis was not effectively addressed.
“There are many billions of people suffering from a
lack of affordable housing and all the facilities that make
life decent,” the Secretary-General said. “We must work
together and generate the political will to have a smooth
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals
and work more closely and harder than before.”
The Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China,
Dejiang Zhang, told the gathering that in the light of
the population challenges facing his country, China
itself was opting to adopt a coordinated development
approach between its cities and regions, with special
emphasis on energy saving and climate change
mitigation.
For the poor represented by civil society groups, for
young people represented by youth groups, or women’s
organizations, the “harmonious cities” concept carried
a message of hope easy to understand in a rapidly
urbanizing world.
Mr. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, warned that in a
new urban age with most people living in cities, urban
crime was likely to increase.
“The rise in crime is bound to continue and
accelerate as urbanization – especially in Africa and the
Caribbean – continues to grow at a rapid pace. This
carries important implications for global – and not
simply local – security,” he said.
He cited reports on regions where crime had had
an impact on development – for example in Africa, the
Balkans, the Caribbean and Central America. His office
had demonstrated the link: under-development increases
vulnerability to crime, and crime hurts development.
Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring
The success of the Forum was due to the intense
interest shown by our participating partners from nearly
every walk of life.
And it was also thanks to the tremendous efforts of
the People’s Republic of China to ensure that everything
in Nanjing worked smoothly, even though the meeting
was held in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake –
one of the most devastating in living memory anywhere
in the world. Not least, it also followed closely on the
heels of the 2008 Olympic Games in China.
“In expressing our heartfelt appreciation, it is
important especially to cite here the Vice Premier of
the People’s Republic of China, Dejiang Zhang; China’s
Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development,
Jiang Weixin; the Governor of Jiangsu Province Lou
ZhiJun, and the Mayor of Nanjing Jiang Hongkun; for
their warm welcome to us and our delegations. And
not least Mr. Qi Ji, Deputy Minister of Housing and
Urban-Rural Development, and the Forum, Chair,
Deputy Mayor Lu Bing of the City of Nanjing,” said
Mrs. Tibaijuka.
“This word of thanks goes out also to their assistants,
their staff and the ever attentive multilingual young
people who were at every venue to give a helping hand
– and always with a smile.
“If we think back on the Forum, it is the smiles and
kindness shown us all that remain uppermost in our
minds,” she said. She also thanked the Governments
of Norway for providing financial support towards civil
society participation at the Forum and the Kingdom
of Bahrain for sponsoring the Khalifa bin Salman Al
Khalifa Award, which will from now onwards become a
standing feature of the biennial event.
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un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Some Forum highlights
The World Urban Youth Forum
More than 500 youth activists from over 50 countries,
gathered on the eve of the Forum for a two-day World
Urban Youth Forum. Hosted by the Nanjing Municipal
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Youth
League, it was the third biennial session of its kind.
They unveiled a groundbreaking fund to finance
youth-led development projects around the world. The
Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-Led Development,
is initially financed through a USD2,000,000 grant
over two years from the Government of Norway. Other
governments and donors are invited to contribute.
Women’s Roundtable
UN-HABITAT teamed up with the Nanjing Women’s
Federation and the Commonwealth Association of
Planners to review the problems women face in cities
and how best to address gender concerns in urban
16
development policies and practices. Government
representatives, experts and women from grassroots
organizations outlined recommendations on gender-
responsive planning, adequate housing, land tenure
and partnerships. Speakers included the Deputy High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Kyung-wha
Kang, YWCA General Secretary Mrs. Nyaradzai
Gumbonzvanda, and Vice Mayor of Nanjing Mrs. Wang
Yonghong.
African Mayors
African Mayors from the Lake Victoria region signed
an exchange agreement with the Yangpu District of the
Municipal Government of Shanghai.
Business leaders
Private sector leaders brainstormed on how to build
greener cities. They sought ways to ensure responsible
Photo © City of Nanjing

business practices for sustainable urbanization and
the core principles that could underpin it. They also
discussed affordable technologies and business models
that could work for the urban poor at the bottom of
the economic pyramid, so that cities and towns are
safer, more equitable, harmonious – and better for
business.
Top Asian planner is rewarded
The 2008 UN-HABITAT Lecture Award was
conferred upon Professor Anthony Gar-On Yeh of
the University of Hong Kong, one of Asia’s foremost
urban planners. The award recognizes outstanding and
sustained contribution to research and thinking in the
human settlements field. The Award rotates regionally
every year and in 2008 it focused on the Asia-Pacific
region. After a glittering ceremony in Nanjing, Prof.
Gar-On Yeh delivered his lecture entitled, GIS as a
Planning Support System for Harmonious Cities.
The Forum exhibition
At the World Urban Forum in Nanjing, Chinese
municipal authorities and organizations showcased
best practice in four exhibition halls. In the
international hall, scores of partners from all over the
world displayed their own achievements. The launch
of the new UN-HABITAT brand attracted thousands
of visitors to the agency’s stand, where copies of the
World Cities and African Cities reports were available,
among other publications.
Skills
The agency coordinated 23 training sessions held
by Habitat Agenda partners at the Nanjing Forum
which attracted 850 participants.
Financing
A special session discussed the global financial
crisis and its impact. Another examined public-private
partnerships in housing and urban development,
including new approaches to urban and community
development.
Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring
Opportunities for business
A major force behind the reshaping of 21st century cities,
business is a crucial agent of change as far as sustainable
policies are concerned, including basic services, climate
change and energy conservation. This is why the agency
in 2007 launched the Business Partnership for Sustainable
Urbanization in an effort to build partnerships under the
corporate social responsibility agenda.
In 2008, through its Private Sector Unit, UN-HABITAT
expanded dialogue and cooperation with the business
community, including global, medium and small-sized
enterprises. These partnerships can leverage business
resources around specific global, regional and local
initiatives, in the process opening up fresh perspectives and
opportunities for the private sector.
In 2008, UN-HABITAT leveraged the capacities of a number
of top international firms in favour of local projects involving
crucial areas like water, sanitation, housing, urban data
management and finance (for details, see the relevant
sections in this Report). The programmes involved top
international firms in banking and finance, broadcasting,
information and communication technologies, housing, food
and manufacturing.
From an operational point of view, UN-HABITAT can act as
a facilitator for business sector participation in manageable,
flexible small-size projects in some 120 countries. The agency’s
comparative advantage lies in its familiarity with local,
including institutional, conditions, allowing for maximum
resource optimization and tangible response to local needs
and requirements.
Business and related bodies are also keen to share expertise
and to advise UN-HABITAT on new ways of improving living
conditions and achieving harmonious cities. This includes
‘bottom up’ development of market chains, responsive
business practices as well as designing innovative business
models and affordable, flexible technologies that are
adaptable to climate change. This is the purpose of UN-
HABITAT’s Business Partnership for Sustainable Urbanization.
In an effort to gain from private sector experience and
business models and through its Business Partnership
for Sustainable Urbanization (created in 2007), UN-
HABITAT works on a database of business ‘best practice’
in relevant areas, including pro-poor housing, informal
entrepreneurship and innovative uses of new information and
telecommunication technologies.
17
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Water is a crucial issue in urban areas,
as recognized by the Millennium
Development Goals, and in 2009 the
UN-HABITAT-sponsored Global Water
Operators Partnership is to become fully
operational, providing a platform for
improved institutional capacity in the
coming years.
A partnership between UN-HABITAT
and Google.org plays a major role
in the monitoring of Millennium
Development Goals. On top of
statistical improvements, an initiative
launched in 2008 with Google.org
will contribute to the development of
innovative, integrated monitoring and
benchmarking tools. A pilot scheme
will be run in Zanzibar (Tanzania) and in
seven towns in the Lake Victoria area
(Africa).
Partnerships are also the linchpin of
the Global Land Tool Network. The
scheme enables UN-HABITAT to
share experience and expertise for
the development of innovative, well-
adapted land management tools. These
in turn contribute to poverty alleviation
and the Millennium Development
Goals through land reform, improved
land management and security of
tenure. Members of this demand-driven
network include NGOs, international
financial institutions, research and
training institutions, donors, professional
bodies and individual experts from
around the world.
A gender action plan is
ready and mainstreaming
continues
Adequate shelter for all requires gender
equality and empowerment, which in
turn is vital to participatory, sustainable
and harmonious urban governance.
To carry out this mandate in 2008,
UN-HABITAT focused on three areas:
18
devising a Gender equality action
plan in line with a resolution of the 21st
Governing Council in 2007; bringing
gender concerns into local government;
and integrating the gender dimension
in land and development. The latter
two objectives gave rise to a number of
advocacy events and partnerships with
a wide range of institutions. The plan
which was widely discussed at a World
Urban Forum seminar co-hosted by
Norway, was scheduled for approval by
the 2009 Governing Council.
Local mainstreaming of gender
issues
Since 2003, UN-HABITAT has been
conducting an integrated programme
on empowering urban women
entrepreneurs through housing
development and land rights. The
programme supports (i) baseline
surveys; (ii) grants for revolving funds in
support of housing development and
women’s empowerment; (iii) training of
paralegal officers specializing in human
rights in general and women’s human
rights in particular; (iv) training women
in enterprise development and business
management; and (v) establishment of
housing co-operatives for women.
Local governance is another crucial
sphere where women’s participation
and influence in decision-making and
planning must be promoted. In March
2008, the agency’s regional Office
for Latin America and the Caribbean
hosted a Women- and girl-friendly
cities competition. A similar competition
was held by the Regional Office for Asia
and the Pacific.
UN-HABITAT is also collaborating
with a women’s body called Femun
in Peru and the Institute of Local
Government Studies in Ghana to build
the gender-related capacities of local
authorities. Further partnerships have
been launched with an organization in
Kenya called GROOTS, and the Huairou
Commission to hold training workshops
based on ‘local to local’ dialogue.
Together with the Caribbean
Association for Feminist Research
and Action and the UN International
Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women, UN-HABITAT
began conducting a global survey on
women’s empowerment and gender
mainstreaming in local governance in
25 countries.
Dissemination of the Gender in Local
Governance sourcebook is proceeding
in earnest. In September 2008, the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
used it to train female political leaders.
Similar drives were undertaken in
Ghana, Israel, and southern Africa.
An international conference on
decentralization, local power and
women’s rights was held in Mexico City
in November. Building on a series of
projects (supported by the International
Development Research Centre) in sub-
Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South
and Southeast Asia, and Latin America
and the Caribbean, the conference
took a critical look at decentralization
and local governance with regard to
women’s participation, representation
and access to public services, giving
participants an opportunity to identify
gaps and themes for further research.
Results of previous gender assessments
have been used to formulate
interventions aimed at redressing
inherent gender imbalances in water
and sanitation programmes and
improving the lives of women. A
noteworthy example is the launch of
a number of sanitation micro-credit
schemes that were designed on the
basis of the gender assessments carried
out in Africa.
 Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring

Land and economic

empowerment
UN-HABITAT has joined in partnered
with UNIFEM, the UN Capital
Development Fund and the UN
Development Programme for a
joint scheme to promote gender
and local economic development
in five countries. The programme
builds local government capacities to
mainstream gender perspectives in
planning and budgeting as well as
facilitating participation of women and
community organizations.
Women in an informal market in Liberia. 2008.
In July 2008 during the session of Photo © UN-HABITAT
the UN Economic and Social Council,
UN-HABITAT organized a Women
Parliamentarians and Leaders Caucus in
New York City, which included a study
tour. The event was part of the agency’s
programme for women’s economic
empowerment through housing
development and land rights.

UN-HABITAT continues to produce and

disseminate publications to promote
advocacy and capacity building
in gender equality and women’s
empowerment.

Youth working for a

sustainable urban future
UN-HABITAT’s Youth Programme in
2008 continued to strengthen the
agency’s efforts to engage young
people in sustainable urbanization
work. Emphasis was laid on
implementation of the agency’s
Strategy on Enhanced Engagement
of Young People. The strategy focuses
on participatory approaches and
models that promote employment,
entrepreneurship, training, capacity-
building and crime prevention, and
stresses the role of young people in the
alleviation of poverty and inequality.
Construction of the Youth Training facility in Mavoko, Nairobi, Kenya
The Global Partnership Initiative on
Urban Youth Development (GPI),
launched at the 2nd World Urban Forum
in Barcelona in 2004, remains a major
platform to integrate the Millennium
Development Goals with development
programmes at the city level. This
Partnership continued to focus on,
and working with, urban youth, local
governments, civil society, other relevant
 
Photo © UN-HABITAT
United Nations agencies, multilateral
institutions and private foundations to
provide meaningful solutions to urban
youth challenges.
Local support for youth
resource centres
In 2008 UN-HABITAT and local
governments set up One-Stop Youth

19
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Information Resource Centres in several
African cities. The centres prepare
young people for employment through
training services (entrepreneurship,
digital technologies), engagement
in local government and access to
recreational activities, along with
support programmes in environmental
protection and participatory planning.
The one-stop centres provide health
services (including HIV/AIDS testing and
education). Strong municipal support is
reflected in both financial contributions
and physical space allocations.
A new flagship magazine for a new urban era
UN-HABITAT used the occasion
of the fourth World Urban Forum
in Nanjing, China to launch a new
flagship magazine. The new quarterly
publication, Urban World, replaced
Habitat Debate as the agency moves
forward with the times, with a more
modern magazine for our growing
global audience in this rapidly
urbanizing world.
The new magazine, one of the first
products of our Mid-term Strategic
and Institutional Plan (2008-2013),
was born in 2008 right at the historic
crossroads where the world irreversibly
entered a new urban era.
We know that governments and
municipalities simply can no longer
tackle the problems of urbanization and
poverty alone. Much of the financing
and much of the expertise for such
change has to come from the private
sector.
And so our new magazine
is a joint venture with a private
sector company, Pressgroup
Holdings Europe S.A. based in
20
UN-HABITAT in 2008 intensified support
to its “We are the Future” centres
in towns and cities recovering from
conflict and disaster, concentrating
on youth-led services for orphans and
vulnerable children. The focus was
on health, nutrition, arts, sports and
computer technology to promote both
peace-building and entrepreneurship.
African youth training centres
A Youth Empowerment Programme
launched in Nairobi, Kenya in
Valencia, Spain. For the first time
our magazine carries advertising
from companies around the
world, including those which
have joined the United Nations
Global Compact, a UN initiative
to encourage businesses worldwide
to adopt sustainable and socially
responsible policies in the areas
of human rights, labour, the
environment, social services
delivery, and anti-corruption.
June 2008 has been training
young people from urban slums
in construction technologies,
access to affordable housing and
improved livelihoods. Triggered
by a grant from United Nations
Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon,
the scheme has since received
significant financial support from
the Government of Norway and the
Government of Finland.
In 2008, 30 young people from the
overcrowded Nairobi slum of Kibera,
and the informal settlement of Mavoko
received on-the-job training in the
production of low-cost bricks for the
Moonbeam Youth Training Centre.
Another 60 were trained in leadership
and management skills, business
development as well as in information
and communication technologies,
complete with certification to enhance
income opportunities. Plans were
underway to turn it into a regional
training centre. An additional 200
young people started skills training in
building and related trades. Graduates
can combine marketable skills with
apprenticeships, including with ongoing
construction projects by UN-HABITAT’s
Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme.
So far, implementing partners Umande
Trust and Environmental Youth Alliance
have enabled over 300 young people to
graduate through the scheme.
New partnerships in 2008 involved
the municipalities of Addis Ababa,
Kampala, Kigali, Nablus and Nairobi.
Cooperation with Nest Kenya,
Horisont Norway, Environmental
Youth Alliance, Umande Trust, the
Nanjing Youth Federation and the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) was also secured to support
youth empowerment at a global level.

A USD1million fund for young agents of urban change
Partnerships help UN-
HABITAT mobilize all energies
behind its sustainable urban
agenda and none may be more
precious for the future than
those of the younger generations.
This is why in 2007 the agency’s
Governing Council approved a
Norwegian proposal to establish
a new scheme for young
underprivileged urban people,
known as the Opportunities Fund
for Urban Youth-led Development.
The new scheme is
designed to help dynamic,
underprivileged young people
to turn urban challenges into
opportunities for individual
and collective advancement.
Under the scheme, young
people are invited to tell UN-
HABITAT how they would
tackle major challenges like
poverty, HIV/AIDS, poor
education and health, crime
and unemployment at their
local level, and the best ideas are
rewarded with grants to support
deployment on the ground.
With the new Fund, young
people act as agents of change
at grassroots level, turning cities
into better places. As for UN-
HABITAT, the scheme provides
a further opportunity to identify
best practice, as new approaches
to urban improvement are tested
on the ground.
The funding for the scheme
comes through an annual
USD1 million grant from the
Government of Norway. “There
is an urgent need to mainstream
Effective advocacy, partnerships and monitoring
youth in development strategies,
particularly in the context of
sustainable urban development,
and we believe that UN-
HABITAT should be a lead
agency in this process,” said Mr.
Erik Berg, of Norway’s Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. “We also
believe that a dedicated fund for
targeted support of youth-led
initiatives can be an excellent
mechanism for implementing
this.”
The operational details of
the scheme came into force after
final adoption by the UN-
HABITAT Governing Council
held in Nairobi between 28th
March and 3rd April 2009.
The 58 governments
represented on the Governing
Council agreed that the new
Fund would strengthen youth-
related policy formulation.
The scheme should help
governments, civil society
organizations and the private
sector to improve the way
they address the concerns of
this vibrant segment of any
population. Establishment of
the Fund was mandated under a
2007 resolution from the UN-
HABITAT Governing Council,
which meets every two years. At
the 2006 World Urban Forum
in Vancouver, Canada the Youth
Forum had recommended the
establishment of a dedicated
fund for youth-led development,
building on a UN-HABITAT
Governing Council resolution
in 2003.
Government officials
said the new UN-HABITAT
Youth Fund would also
promote vocational training
and credit mechanisms to
encourage entrepreneurship
and employment regardless of
gender, in collaboration with
the private sector and other
UN bodies. In all of these areas,
they said, the Fund would also
be used to ensure that gender
concerns are properly integrated.
Recent years have seen
mounting calls for the
recognition of the critical role of
youth in development. The scale
of the challenge and opportunity
is now recognized by such global
institutions as the World Bank,
which devoted its 2007 World
Development Report to youth
development.
Available statistics show that
on the whole, young people aged
15-24 years represent 18 percent
of the world’s population. Africa
is host to the largest segments: in
countries like Kenya, Tanzania,
Zambia and Zimbabwe,
those aged 25 years and below
constitute about 70 percent of
the population.
The UN-HABITAT
Youth Fund marks high-level
recognition of the need for
practical support for youth-led
initiatives. It should lead the
way for other organizations and
governments to place youth at
the core of their development
strategies.
21
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

CHAPTER 2:
Promotion of participatory
planning, management
and governance

“Enable all major stakeholders in the public,

private and community sectors to play an
effective role – at the national, state/provincial,
metropolitan and local levels – in human
settlements and shelter development.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

22

UN-HABITAT’s efforts to promote and improve
inclusive decentralization, management and
governance and stronger local authorities are guided
by a landmark 2007 resolution of its
Governing Council.
If it is to be sustainable, 21st century
urban planning, management and
governance must be participatory, and
therefore decentralized. This allows for
better responses to local needs and
requirements and favours community
ownership of projects. Faced with
the challenge of participatory urban
governance, many central, local and
municipal authorities as well as other
stakeholders turn to UN-HABITAT to
strengthen their performance with a
view to developing safer, more liveable,
productive and inclusive cities. In
2008 the agency moved to streamline
its own mechanisms for improved
efficiency.
In August 2008, UN-HABITAT set up
a dedicated task force to develop and
implement an ‘Enhanced Normative
and Operational Framework’. The
move is designed to provide an
integrated approach to support
Governments and their development
partners to achieve more sustainable
urbanisation, as mandated under
the Medium-Term Strategy and
Implementation Plan. One of the
main objectives is better alignment
between the agency’s normative and
operational activities.
Promotion of participatory planning, management and governance
and processes developed in the course
of normative and capacity-building
work. These institutional changes
will promote the integration of
related sectors to promote interaction
between programmes.
In October 2008 at UN-HABITAT Decentralization
headquarters in Nairobi, an
In order to capitalise on progress
expert group meeting brought
made in the international dialogue on
together a wide range of expertise
decentralization and strengthening
and perspectives in managing
of local democracy, UN-HABITAT and
sustainable urban development.
United Cities and Local Governments
A consensus emerged on the
have been developing guidelines
challenges of strengthening planning,
on decentralisation, as mandated
management, and participatory
by the Governing Council. This
governance, with the identification of
work has raised great expectations
significant similarities in the challenges
of poor communities at local level.
facing countries of the North and
In this regard, UN-HABITAT has
South, (rich and poor, developed
benefited from the political support
and developing) with regard to these
of a considerable number of national
issues, despite other differences. The
governments, including India, and
meeting produced a comprehensive
from financial contributions from
Strategy Paper which will guide UN-
Norway and France.
HABITAT in the design of interventions
and work programmes in UN-HABITAT has now sub-contracted
participatory planning, management United Cities to carry collect country
and governance. profiles in support of the Global
Observatory of Local Democracy and
To strengthen the multi-functionality
Decentralisation. United Cities will
of urban planning, management
also explore and identify appropriate
and governance, UN-HABITAT has
methodologies for the development
also undertaken some institutional
of tools and indicators to support the
re-alignment with the creation of
implementation of the Guidelines on
an Urban Design and Planning Unit.
decentralisation, and on top of this
This unit also has an agency-wide
will also disseminate the Guidelines.
mandate to lead in the development
of prototypes adaptable in real United Cities has developed country
situations through tools, techniques, profiles with assistance from UN-
23
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
HABITAT and a network of European
experts in local democracy. The first
set of useful country profiles has been
completed and made available to UN-
HABITAT.
UN-HABITAT has also been working
with a Group of Experts on
Decentralisation to identify the needs,
elucidate the concepts, and explore
the appropriate methodologies to
develop tools and indicators for local
adaptation of the Guidelines.
The challenge of climate
change
UN-HABITAT has created the
Sustainable Urban Development
Network to intensify debate on
sustainable urban development
solutions through existing global
networks as well as regional, national
and local partnerships.
As part of the Urban Development
Network, UN-HABITAT launched
the Cities in Climate Change
24
Initiative in 2008. The scheme
helps local governments strengthen
climate change mitigation and
adaptation measures and to work
with urban communities to address
infrastructural and governance issues.
The resources and tools include
participatory environmental planning
and management methodologies
to conduct vulnerability and risk
mapping surveys. The scheme also
develops adaptation guidelines
for local authorities and promotes
innovative solutions like energy-
efficient buildings.
The Cities in Climate Change Initiative
is currently under experimentation
in four conurbations: Maputo
(Mozambique), Kampala (Uganda),
Sorsogon (Philippines) and Esmeraldas
(Ecuador). Five additional cities in
Africa are joining the initiative soon.
Safer cities
In 2008 UN-HABITAT continued to
support local governments addressing
issues of violence, crime and insecurity
through global, regional and country
level activities.
At global level, partnerships have
been strengthened with the United
Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, with the development of a
methodology for joint missions, as
well as identification of common
tools. In addition, partnerships have
been established on armed violence
prevention (with the UN Development
Programme and other agencies)
and on gender-based violence (with
UNIFEM). Joint work plans and
mobilization of resources have also
been launched.
Internally, urban safety has been
incorporated in the slum upgrading
initiative. An ongoing assessment
of urban safety issues within slum
upgrading initiatives will be concluded
in 2009.
In June 2008, the Youth Crime
Prevention and Cities Summit took
place in Durban (South Africa). The

event showcased experiences of
youth-led urban development and
prevention initiatives across the
globe. Youth leadership in violence
prevention was promoted, as well
as the development of resilient
communities. The summit also
launched a Youth-led Platform on
Urban Development and Crime
Prevention. Participants discussed the
use of arts and culture for community
development and experiences of
police-youth dialogue towards safer
communities.
UN-HABITAT also documented and
assessed tools for local action in 2008,
including female safety audits and
gender-based violence prevention
initiatives, together with youth-led
prevention initiatives and policing
innovations, particularly in the context
of urban slums and developing
countries.
In Latin America, UN-HABITAT has
devised a regional strategy for safer
cities, local initiatives have been
Promotion of participatory planning, management and governance
launched and a prevention toolkit
has been developed with Chile’s
Universidad Alberto Hurtado. In Asia,
pilot activities have been launched in
Cambodia and India.
In Africa, UN-HABITAT continued
in 2008 to build capacities and
partnerships for the prevention
of crime and violence, including a
Youth Violence Prevention Week
which attracted over 5,000 young
people in Kenya. Further progress has
been made toward the creation of
a regional training centre for ‘city to
city’ collaboration and exchange on
urban security issues . environmentally sustainable urban
Academic partnerships
UN-HABITAT discussed the Habitat
Partner University scheme with a
number of relevant institutions in
Nanjing (China) in November 2008.
The proposed scheme (which comes
under the UN-HABITAT Sustainable
urban development network) consists
of an umbrella framework for the
Photos © UN-HABITAT
bilateral agreements that have been
concluded between higher education
institutions since 2006. Setting
common rules and standards, the
proposed scheme would expand
cooperation between UN-HABITAT
and higher education institutions
around the world, facilitating links
(including research and training)
between universities in developing
and developed countries.
Based on the principles of reciprocity
and mutual benefit, the scheme
would bring together institutions
willing to promote socially and
development in accordance with
Millennium Development Goals.
Under the scheme, sharing of
knowledge and capacity building
would also involve practitioners and
policy-makers.
Training and capacity building
If sustainable urbanization is to drive
both policy and practice, adequate
25
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
training and capacity-building have
a crucial role to play. As mandated
by the Medium-Term Strategic and
Implementation Plan, UN-HABITAT
focuses efforts in a selected set
of countries in order to maximize
impact.
In the crucial water and
sanitation area, substantial
support was provided to
institutional participatory
mechanisms, especially with
respect to the structuring and
training of community-based
organizations and the design and
implementation of demonstration
projects with strong community
participation. Community-
based demonstration projects
were under implementation in a
number of countries, including
Vietnam, Nepal, Laos, Bolivia,
Mexico, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal,
and Nigeria. These projects
have not only demonstrated the
effectiveness of community-based
approaches, but have also helped
to extend water and sanitation
services to poor communities.
In Africa, ‘Training of Trainers’ and
workshops for local government
leaders took place in Liberia (with
non-governmental organizations)
and Zimbabwe (in cooperation with
the Urban Council of Association of
Zimbabwe).
In the Democratic Republic of
Congo, the Facultés Catholiques
de Kinshasa was retained as
the anchoring institution for a
programme (including participatory
planning and gender dimensions)
launched in the capital. In
Mozambique, a capacity needs
assessment was carried out for
three municipalities as part of a
similar programme for which the
government is looking to appoint
a local anchoring institution. In
26
Senegal in 2008, UN-HABITAT and
partner ENDA TM-ecopop together
began to build municipal capacities
to implement a new national
framework for participatory
budgeting.
In Morocco, together with Agence
du Sud and other partners,
UN-HABITAT is assisting with
participatory implementation of
the local Agenda 21 in southern
provinces.
In partnership with the Ford
Foundation, UN-HABITAT also
supported the biennial Mashariki
[i.e., ‘eastern’] Innovations in
Local Government Awards. This
East African scheme promotes
and rewards poverty reduction
and excellence in public service
delivery, good governance, and
enhanced local democracy and
decentralization. It is part of UN-
HABITAT efforts to advocate and
disseminate good practice in pro-
poor urban governance.
Africa
The UN-HABITAT-sponsored Lake
Victoria City Development
Strategies mobilize municipal
authorities along Lake Victoria (East
Africa) to address the absence of
effective planning. The initiative has
provided an institutional framework
that facilitates building capacities
in participatory decision-making at
the local and national levels.
The overall improvement in
environmental governance in
participating cities has proven
the effectiveness of the scheme.
Several small towns around Lake
Victoria have also been receiving
spatial planning support, providing
a basis for infrastructure and
service plans.
In Lebanon, UN-HABITAT is
adapting four training programmes
(including on financial affairs
and conflict management) to the
specific needs of local authorities
and stakeholders engaged in post-
conflict reconstruction.
Eastern Europe: Economic
focus
In Eastern Europe in 2008,
programmes with local authorities
focused on the management of
economic development.
In Serbia, UN-HABITAT’s Settlement
and Integration of Refugees
Programme (financed by the
Government of Italy) has built
institutional capacities for social
housing development such as
housing agencies at municipal
level, and helped to boost local
government capacity in urban
planning and information systems.
UN-HABITAT designed the next
phase of the initiative, the
Settlement and Integrated Local
Development Programme, which
takes stock of lessons learned
in Serbia and nurtures a similar
process in Albania and Bosnia. The
agency also launched on a new
project strengthening central and
local capacities to apply for and
manage funds for pre-accession to
the European Union.
In Kosovo, UN-HABITAT completed
the first phase of its capacity-
building programme for various
aspects of urban (including
participatory) planning in selected
cities and institutions. Now in its
second phase, the programme
provides financial support to
investment projects based on
municipal urban plans. Thanks to
financial support from the Swedish

Ambassador Elisabeth Jacobsen of Norway and UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka during the signing ceremony of the
Somalia: A successful UN partnership
Somalia provides a good
illustration of what UN-HABITAT
partnerships working as OneUN
within the UN system and civil
society can achieve even in
challenging conditions.
The Somalia Urban
Development Programme was
a four-year dedicated umbrella
scheme co-funded by the
European Commission and the
UN Development Programme.
The International Labour
Organization, UNICEF, UNA
Promotion of participatory planning, management and governance
funding agreement on 3 April 2008 to support UN-HABITAT’s.programmes, Nepal, 2008.
(Italian NGO) and Oxfam-
Novib contributed their specialist
expertise in cities and major towns,
with UN-HABITAT acting as lead
coordinator for local governance
and service delivery.
On top of strengthening
civil society and community
participation, the scheme
promoted an increasingly
democratic, inclusive, and
accountable system of governance,
as well as more efficient and
socially effective local management
Photo © UN-HABITAT
practices. The scheme also
improved donor coordination and
programming for the urban sector.
In the Somali capital,
Mogadishu, UN-HABITAT and
Saaciid, its long-standing local
civil society partner, support
community-based dialogue,
contributing to peace and
stabilization and encouraging
stakeholders to improve
living conditions and develop
community-based partnerships.
27
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
International Development Agency,
UN-HABITAT’s action in Kosovo
has been a major contribution to
peace.
In Albania, UN-HABITAT is
providing technical assistance
project to develop capacities in
eight municipalities in order to
implement a loan from the Council
of Europe Development Bank for
the construction of 1,100 social
housing units.
In Moldova, UN-HABITAT helped
strengthen national capacity for
local economic development
initiatives in the context of a
national medium-term framework
and Integrated Local Development
scheme of the UN Development
Programme. The initial focus is on
five selected towns.
Latin America and the
Caribbean
A workshop with UNIFEM and the
Huairou Commission took place
in Jamaica that will be duplicated
in several communities with the
help of the UN Development
Programme in the area.
A similar sub-regional project for
Central America was developed
in 2008 to strengthen local
government capacities in integrated
risk management, with financial
support from the International
Development Centre.
Technical guidance
Local elected leadership, local
economic development and
participatory budgeting featured
prominently among the themes of
12 training workshops UN-HABITAT
organized with various partners in
28
2008. A new tool on gender and
participatory budgeting was also
published.
Decentralization is one of the pillars
of participatory governance. In this
area too, UN-HABITAT looked to
update its own guidelines. Further
to similar action in Asia and Africa,
the regional office moved to revise
the agency’s Decentralization
Guidelines for America and the
Caribbean at a conference with the
main local government associations
in the region and representatives
of the national governments.
Implementation of the resulting
action plan started in 2009.
In 2008, UN-HABITAT arranged a
partnership with UNDP New York
in order to facilitate its e-learning
course on key competencies
for local elected leadership. The
course benefited 32 UNDP national
officers based in 27Asian, African
and Latin American countries.
UN-HABITAT also published two
training handbooks on participatory
local governance in 2008:
Gender in Local Government
– A sourcebook for trainers (in
English and Portuguese) which
partners in Canada, Ghana, South
Africa and other countries are
now using at their own initiative;
and Participatory Budgeting in
Africa – A Training Companion
of Excreta, Wastewater Sludge,
(in English and French).
and Biosolids Management:
In the water and sanitation area, Moving Forward the Sustainable
UN-HABITAT produced a number and Welcome Uses of a Global
of major publications in 2008, Resource. A wide range of training
including: a Step-by-Step Guide manuals and tool kits were also
on How to Set Up and Manage prepared for use in training and
a Town-Level Multistakeholder capacity-building activities.
Forum, a Manual on the Rights-
Based Approach to Water and The agency also published a
Sanitation and a Global Atlas book, Human Rights Cities –
Civic Engagement for Societal

Development, co-authored with
the People’s Movement for Human
Rights Learning.
Disaster management
Afghanistan was a major focus
for UN-HABITAT post-conflict
activities in 2008 as the country
looks to recover from two decades
of war. Over the past several years
Promotion of participatory planning, management and governance
these have involved community
empowerment and development
for peace-building, strengthening
municipal and community
governance and reconstruction of
physical and social infrastructure.
Together, UN-HABITAT programmes
improved living conditions for
4.7 million people in 3,258
communities. They include a
variety of training manuals in three
languages.
Busy market place, Jinja, Uganda, 2005.
Photo © UN-HABITAT
In the small island states of
the Pacific, UN-HABITAT’s
ongoing partnership with the
Commonwealth Local Government
Forum conducted a popular Local
Elected Leadership training in Fiji
and Tuvalu. Also in 2008, leaders in
Kiribati and Tuvalu came together
for the first time to discuss major
issues of common concern.
29
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

CHAPTER 3:
Promotion of pro-poor
land and housing

“We reaffirm our commitment to the full

and progressive realization of the right to
adequate housing, and to provide legal security
of tenure and equal access to land to all.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

30
 Promotion of pro-poor land and housing

UN-HABITAT’s strategic goal in this area is to bring national Nairobi and Mombasa. The agency
and local government as well as Habitat Agenda partners to also supports the Kenya Land Sector
Donor Group which includes the
implement improved land and housing policies for the sake of Swedish International Development
sustainable urbanizati on. This involves technical assistance and Agency, USAID, the International
ground-breaking research into new instruments and concepts. Fund for Agricultural Development,
the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, the British Department
for International Development, the
Slum upgrading and poverty and Rwanda. In Tanzania, the
World Bank, Germany’s GTZ and the
agency supports a plan to upgrade
Slum upgrading is a major plank in Government of Italy.
informal settlements in Dar es
UN-HABITAT’s pro-poor land and
Salaam with assistance from the In Macedonia UN-HABITAT assisted
housing strategy and Africa is the
World Bank. with preparation of a law on
most rapidly urbanizing region in
the world. In 2008 the agency led formalization of illegal settlements, as
In Kenya, UN-HABITAT supports
a Support Programme for Western well as for a central digital database of
three slum-upgrading programmes in
and Central French-speaking urban plans.
Africa as part of its Cities without
Slums initiative and with support
from the Cities Alliance, the UN
Environmental Programme (UNEP)
and the Municipal Development
Partnership. This involved the
formulation of development
strategies for six cities (including
Cotonou, Dakar, Lomé and
Ouagadougou) and countrywide
programmes for Mali and Senegal.
In Mali, the participatory national
programme, helps identify
opportunities to mobilize public
and private investment in slums
improvement.

Other African countries receiving

slum-related support, including
at municipal level, are Burundi,
Cape Verde, Congo DRC, Egypt
Newly completed houses, Self Build Housing project Jinja, Uganga, 2005.
Photo © S.Mutter

31
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
In the Philippines, the agency is
involved in grassroots poverty-
reduction programmes.
Stronger institutions
In Egypt, UN-HABITAT assists in
strategic urban plans for the Greater
Cairo Region and for small cities.
In Nigeria, UN-HABITAT provided
technical support to devise plans
for seven urban areas in two states,
which included capacity-building and
community consultations.
In Rwanda, the agency assisted with
institutional development and capacity
building of the ministry in charge of
urban development, including studies
into urban environment rehabilitation
and improved access to basic
infrastructure through pilot actions.
In South Africa, UN-HABITAT helps
improve consultative coordination of
spatial development in Eastern Cape
Province.
Land use
Effective use of land is a driving
force of economic development
and in 2008 UN-HABITAT assisted
Madagascar with the formulation
of a national land use planning
framework, as well as of urban and
peri-urban land policies in support of
the country’s land reform programme,
including the drafting of manuals and
guidelines.
In 2008 in Somalia, UN-HABITAT
completed a joint Urban Development
Programme with the European
Commission, UNA, Terre Solidali
and Oxfam-Novib, among other
partners. The scheme contributed
to ongoing social, financial and
economic recovery through improved
32
access to land and basic services,
more democratic decision-making
as well as public accountability and
transparency. The agency is now
supporting a shelter construction and
employment generation programme.
Responding to conflict and
disaster
In recent years, UN-HABITAT has
expanded its focus from assistance
to local authorities to more direct
support for vulnerable groups
– displaced people, returnees or
disaster victims.
UN-HABITAT is currently engaged in
post-conflict projects related to land in
Afghanistan, Congo DRC, Liberia and
Nepal.
In occupied Palestinian territories,
UN-HABITAT and a broad range
of partners are involved in several
projects, including a long-term ‘special
human settlements programme’
and the first phase of a human
settlements and housing policy
programme.
The agency participated in UN
system efforts to assist Georgia
in the aftermath of the conflict in
August 2008 with an assessment of
the impact of the crisis on housing,
land and property rights of displaced
people. Working closely with the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees,
UN-HABITAT formulated measures
for long-term activities to help the
country cope with the situation.
In Pakistan, UN-HABITAT was
again heavily involved in post-
disaster recovery in 2008, including
technical support for the Earthquake
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
Authority, post-flood information
management and coordination,
Business helps with
disaster recovery
The international business sector
last year worked in partnership with
UN-HABITAT in Indonesia as the
country was still recovering from the
late 2004 earthquake and tsunami.
Coca Cola Company, Fomento
Social Banamex AC Mexico,
the International Community
Foundation Asia Society, the
Netherlands Association of
Housing Corporations and VARA
Broadcasting Corporation joined
efforts with the Citizens of Fukuoka,
Japan and the Red Crescent Society
of the United Arab Emirates (among
others) and contributed to the
Aceh Nias Settlements Support
Programme. The scheme assisted
some 3,600 households in 21
communities.
facilitating access to safer land, and
joint UN post-disaster assessment
mechanisms. The agency
also continues to support the
formulation of the country’s National
Humanitarian Response Programme
and to help strengthen post-
earthquake reconstruction.
In Somalia, UN-HABITAT has been
providing emergency assistance
for resettlement, protection and
reintegration of returnees and
displaced people, as well as shelter
provision in eastern, tsunami-affected
areas.
In the Indian Ocean and Asia,
the agency supported several
post-tsunam, post-earthquake
programmes in Pakistan, the
Philippines (shelter recovery) and the
Maldives.

Promoting transparency
In 2008 and for the first time
UN-HABITAT provided training
in ‘Transparency in land
administration’. In Africa, four
dedicated regional events attracted
114 delegates from 19 countries.
These included representatives
of central and local government
land offices and anti-corruption
watchdogs, traditional authorities,
community-based organizations,
professional associations,
academia, the private sector and
the media.
In Latin America, UN-HABITAT
answered an appeal from the
Peruvian Government after a major
earthquake and developed a set
of six capacity-building guides for
affected local governments. The
guides focused on pre- and post-
disaster register and cadastre of
tenure and are now routinely used
by all affected municipalities.
The 2005 UN-HABITAT
Humanitarian Response
Review identified land issues as
a critical gap in the international
community’s post-disaster and
post-conflict response capacity. In
2007, the Early Recovery Cluster
had requested the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization and UN-
HABITAT to develop guidelines on
how to address land issues after a
natural disaster. In 2008 and as the
guidelines on land in post-natural
disaster contexts were under
production, the Early Recovery
Cluster also requested UN-HABITAT
to develop a set of guidelines for
post-conflict land issues. As a
result, two sets of guidelines are
currently under development to
respond to the specific information
needs of the humanitarian
community and land experts.
Promotion of pro-poor land and housing
Tackling forced evictions
Unlawful forced evictions are on the increase worldwide in frequency,
number, scale, and degree of violence, affecting the lives of millions of people,
many of them poor. Unlawful forced evictions, as practiced in most places,
are at odds with the Millennium Development Goal 7 Target 11 on slum
reduction.
During 2008, UN-HABITAT improved the capacities of its Advisory
Group on Forced Evictions, which advocates alternative solutions including
the agency’s own programmes. Now providing substantive support to
the group is a pool of 15 technical from academic, governmental, non-
governmental and grassroots backgrounds.
In several countries including Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ghana
and Italy, the UN-HABITAT advisory group is facilitating the dialogue
between public authorities and civil society organizations to achieve
negotiated alternatives to forced evictions.
New tools, new partnerships and particularly where the poor are
In 2008 UN-HABITAT further added to concerned. Shelter Profile Studies
its seminal, cutting-edge technical and are now being implemented as a
strategic shelter research. This included demonstration project in Malawi,
the development of a concept note Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda.
and draft strategy paper to support
land and housing reforms, enhancing
The Global Land Tool Network
security of tenure and promoting slum
improvement and prevention. Helping with the development
of innovative, well-adapted land
To improve shelter delivery and
management tools is the Global Land
housing sector performance, UN- Tool Network (GLTN), whose main
HABITAT is currently developing a
objective is to contribute to poverty
‘Shelter Profiling’ tool. Assessing alleviation and achievement of the
the state of the housing sector Millennium Development Goals
provides governments and various through land reform, improved land
stakeholders with a comprehensive management and security of tenure.
analysis of housing and land delivery
systems; the process also sheds light Partnerships and sharing of expertise
on the mechanisms of access to land, is the linchpin of this network, which
housing finance, basic infrastructure, brings together international NGOs
building materials, technology and financial institutions, research
and labour. This diagnosis in turn and training institutions, donors and
supports the required institutional, professional bodies. The network
regulatory and policy reforms at local currently brings together 36 global
and national levels. In particular, the partners, 58 member organizations
Shelter Profiling tool identifies any and more than 600 individual
gaps and bottlenecks interfering members.
with housing market mechanisms,
33
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

the development of a land policy

Rebuilding Iraq framework for the country. A
common framework of agreement
In 2008 UN-HABITAT’s Iraq Programme provided for the rehabilitation of has been established to harmonize
2,450 housing units for the urban poor (including internally displaced people) and donor interventions.
245 educational facilities. The programme focuses on infrastructure and services as
well as the housing and urban sectors. Its accumulated budget since 2004 amounts
to just under USD100 million. Indigenous People

Housing policy reform is well underway in Iraq. It benefits from technical UN-HABITAT is also supporting the
support from the new Training & Knowledge Centre at the Ministry of production of a policy guide that
Construction and Housing. Housing strategies are under deployment for three will add the urban component to
the more generic “Guidelines on
major cities, including Erbil. By the end of year under review, the Government of
Indigenous Peoples” developed
Iraq was preparing for a housing conference to be held in January 2009.
by UNDG to mainstream and
UN-HABITAT also provided capacity-building – both on-the-job and integrate indigenous issues in UN
formal technical and vocational education – with local job creation one of the operational activities. The project
tangible outcomes. In the urban sector, the programme focused on local area came in response to the 5th session
development, solid waste policy and management, as well as local governance of the UN Permanent Forum on
and promotion of the private sector. Indigenous Issues and benefits from
cooperation with the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human
Rights, the International Organization
n 2008 the network developed a build partnerships, harmonize for Migration and the UN Economic
Land Administration Domain Model development interventions and Commission for Latin America and
which can document both customary take full advantage of existing the Caribbean.
and statutory rights and is about capacities. This is in line with the
The guide, which is part of a specialist
to be tested. The network also agency’s Medium Term Strategy
series, will help local and national
developed gender evaluation criteria and Institutional Plan. It is also
for the assessment of land tools from governments on policies, legislation,
consistent with the Paris Declaration
a gender perspective. The network’s and consultative/participatory
on enhanced development aid
dedicated Global Inventory now lists through actions and indicators mechanisms in connection with
more than 800 land-related initiatives that are amenable to monitoring. indigenous peoples’ rights in urban
after taking in as many as 159 from The declaration was endorsed by areas, including gender, youth and
Africa in 2008. over 100 countries in 2005 under environmental issues.
the aegis of the Organization Also in 2008, UN-HABITAT arranged a
At national level, GLTN works for Economic Cooperation and
through member states and partners partnership with the New York office
Development. of the United Nations Development
to support the implementation of
land policies where there is potential UN-HABITAT was one of the Programme in order to facilitate its e-
to achieve systemic, pro-poor reform. founding members of the learning course on key competencies
Development Partners’ Group on for local elected leadership. The
UN-HABITAT is also undertaking course benefited to 32 national
Land in 2004. This group supports
activities which link normative officers of the UN programme
the Government of Kenya,
and operational dimensions at based in 27 Asian, African and Latin
through the Ministry of Land, in
country level, in an effort to American countries.

34

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
ASIA
Advocacy
A UN-HABITAT delegation headed by Mrs.
Tibaijuka attended the 4th Tokyo International
Conference on African Development, a major event
for Asian-African development cooperation organized
every four years by the Government of Japan, the United
Nations and the World Bank.
On World Habitat Day in early October, UN-
HABITAT organized an international symposium,
Towards Harmonious Cities in East Asia.
A seminar for the preparation of the first,
forthcoming State of Asian Cities report was held
in November with the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia-Pacific at the World Urban Forum.
Strengthening the International Urban Training
Centre
UN-HABITAT’s partnership with the International
Urban Training Centre, which is sponsored by Gangwon
Province, Republic of Korea was further consolidated
in 2008. In May, an expert group bringing together
Asian training institutions in the field of sustainable
urban development made a number of practical
recommendations for more effective service provision.
Training events were organized on a number of urban
environmental issues, particularly on ecological
restoration and sustainable urban energy.
Three publications are in preparation: an
introduction to sustainable urbanization, an “eco-
restoration” catalogue and a sourcebook on sustainable
urban energy.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
New country offices
The UN-HABITAT regional office continued building its
implementation capacity and presence, with direct activities
in 19 countries through technical cooperation projects and
normative/operational activities including with the Cities
Alliance.
Promotion of pro-poor land and housing
Two new country offices were established: one in
Nicaragua, where partnerships are in the works with national
and local authorities as well as the Global Housing Foundation;
and the other in Barbados to serve English-speaking Caribbean
countries, in cooperation with the UN Development
Programme.
Also in 2008, the governments of Argentina and Brazil
invited UN-HABITAT to establish local offices complete with
respective Habitat Programme Managers, and at the time of
writing the agency’s regional office was still at work on the
relevant Memorandums of Understanding.
Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico
and Nicaragua collaborated with UN-HABITAT on specific
global programme events in 2008.
Technical cooperation
Technical cooperation programmes were established
in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, and will continue
through 2009. The UN-HABITAT regional office maintains
participation in Cities Alliance projects in Brazil (Belo
Horizonte), Chile, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
The UN-HABITAT regional office also continued
to benefit from its well-established relations with major
regional groupings such as the Association of the Ministers
of Housing (MINURVI), the Latin American Federation of
Cities, Municipalities and Associations (FLACMA) and civil
organizations such as the Habitat International Coalition.
The partnership with MINURVI had a major outcome
in 2008 as ministers endorsed a UN-HABITAT proposal to
produce a report on the State of Latin American and Caribbean
Cities and appointed focal points for follow-up. As for the
partnership with FLACMA, it gave rise to a Decentralization
Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean. Taking
example on previous, similar events held in Asia and Africa,
UN-HABITAT experts sat with representatives of central
governments and the main local authority associations to revise
the agency’s existing Decentralization Guidelines. As a result of
this conference, an action plan was proposed to be carried out
during 2009.
After a year of consolidating the Latin American
and Caribbean regional team, new projects are being
negotiated and some have started implementation.
35
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

CHAPTER 4:
Environmentally sound basic
infrastructure and services

“We commit ourselves to the goal of sustainable human

settlements in an urbanizing world through efficient
use of resources and by providing all people with equal
opportunities, thereby contributing to the achievement
of national sustainable development goals.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

36
 Environmentally sound basic infrastructure and services

In 2007, a landmark Governing Council resolution detailed a Environmental Programme has

been further translated into a joint
set of guiding principles for basic service provision. In this area,
implementation plan for 2008-
UN-HABITAT looks to expand access to environmentally 2009, focusing on climate change,
sound basic infrastructure and services, with a special focus solid waste management in Nairobi,
on the non-served and underserved populations. ecomobility and biodiversity.

In 2008, UN-HABITAT worked to

Over the past two decades, UN-
HABITAT has worked with more
than 100 cities in the world in an
effort to integrate environmental
issues in planning and management
processes. The vehicles for this were
the Sustainable Cities and Localizing
Agenda 21 programmes. A number
of evaluation and transition meetings
in connection with these two schemes
took place in 2008: Senegal (French-
speaking Africa), Mexico City (Latin
America) and Nanjing, China, with a
special session during the 4th World
Urban Forum.
UN-HABITAT institutionalized
the linkage between urban
environment and urban planning
approaches with the creation of
an Urban Environmental Planning
Branch in October 2008.
The agency’s Partnership
Framework with the United Nations
strengthen local technical partners
and anchoring institutions in order
to mainstream the Environmental
Planning and Management
approach devised by the agency.
At the same time, a documentation
exercise included an analysis of
lessons learned. Reports have been
produced in China, Cuba, Nigeria,
Peru, the Philippines, Senegal and
Zambia.

The Mekong Region Programme

The Mekong Region Water and Sanitation Programme
is a collaborative effort between governments of the Greater
Mekong Sub-region, the Asian Development Bank and UN-
HABITAT. The objective is to help Mekong riparian countries
achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the water and
sanitation area and for the benefit of over one million people.
The scheme is also expected to provide an enabling
environment for further investments and support
for the region as a whole. It is a major contribution
to sustainable urbanization and economic growth
in the region, including enhanced connectivity,
competitiveness and greater sense of community.
As part of the scheme, fast-track projects have
been implemented in eight towns in Laos, two in
Vietnam and three in Yunnan province, China
(benefiting an estimated 40,000 people), with
another project commenced in Cambodia.
UN-HABITAT’s support for community-based
water and sanitation (including water conservation
and demand management) has enabled the city of
Puer, China to attract additional capital expenditure
in the water and sanitation sector. In the city of
Jinghong, China, a major tourist attraction, UN-
HABITAT mitigates water and sanitation shortages.
In recognition of the achievements of the
programme, the Government of the Netherlands
has recently agreed to provide additional funds.

37
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

community-based organizations.
Cities have their say on climate change Over 600 persons benefited
from the training and capacity
Cities are major energy consumers and producers of greenhouse gas emission,
building programmes, including
and therefore it was apt that they had their say in ongoing negotiations over
mayors and professional staff,
climate change. The Cities in Climate Change Initiative gave them an opportunity utility managers, system operators
to do so when experts from all over the world met in Poznan, Poland in early and women’s organizations. The
December 2008 for the UN Climate Summit (‘COP-14’) to discuss a new training programmes, which
framework to tackle climate change after the Tokyo Protocol expires in 2012. addressed areas such as financial
The Warsaw office of UN-HABITAT and the Polish Society of Architects management of utilities, water
together organized a conference on Environmentally friendly cities – Coping with demand management, solid waste
urbanization and climate change for representatives of municipal authorities and management and water quality
related associations. They highlighted the linkages between urbanization and monitoring and public sanitation,
have improved the institutional
climate change and discussed the development and implementation of long-term
capacity of service providers, raised
strategies for environmental protection.
awareness of sector issues among
policy makers and empowered
community organizations for a
Water and sanitation and sanitation sector. In 2008 greater role in the sector, in the
Training and capacity building programmes targeted water service process facilitating the sharing of
is a major aspect of UN- providers, regulatory agencies, experiences.
HABITAT’s activities in the water municipal governments and

Water Cycle Painting, Senegal, 2004.

Photo © UN-HABITAT

38

Assistance in business planning was
provided to four utilities in the Lake
Victoria Region and to the Zanzibar
Water Authority in Tanzania, and is
now being extended to the Harar
Water and Sewerage Authority in
Ethiopia and another three utilities
in Lake Victoria. Demand for this
type of assistance is expected to
increase in the coming years, with
utilities under pressure to improve
their financial performance and
creditworthiness as a precondition
for securing funding for
investment.
UN-HABITAT in 2008 also launched
a programme to improve the
energy efficiency of utilities
and to promote greater use of
renewable energy. Energy audits
were substantially completed for
three major utilities in Africa, and
feasibility studies to examine the
potential for promoting renewable
energy technologies were also
launched in Kisii town in Kenya
(micro-hydro) and another 16
towns in Africa (biogas).
In Latin America and the
Caribbean, UN-HABITAT is involved
in projects under the ‘One-UN
Millennium Development Goal
Achievement Fund’ sponsored
by the Government of Spain
with several UN agencies. The
following projects were approved:
governance in water and sanitation
(Mexico, Ecuador), gender equality
and women empowerment (Brazil)
and environment and climate
change (Ecuador). Other topics
like ‘development and the private
sector’ have been proposed in
Brazil and El Salvador.
In China, UN-HABITAT is promoting
sustainable urbanization in
Shenyang and Wuhan.
Environmentally sound basic infrastructure and services
Support from the business sector
Water and sanitation is a privileged sector for UN-HABITAT’s efforts
to act as a catalyst of technical and other support to local projects from
major international business firms, as demonstrated in India, Nepal and
Laos in 2008.
Coca Cola India promotes water conservation and rain harvesting
through schools in India as well as household water treatment in urban
Nepal. The contribution includes financial support and assistance in
project design.
In southern India, the BASF Foundation provides financial support
to a post-tsunami water and sanitation reconstruction project in
Cuddalore. The project provides 10,000 people with access to safe
drinking water and sanitation.
Australian mining company Oxiana Ltd supports a community-
based water supply project for 13,000 residents of Vilabouly, Laos. The
company has signed a cooperation agreement with the state-owned
water utility, and initial surveys and community consultations have been
completed.
In the Philippines in 2008, the training institutions involved in
agency strengthened the ability sustainable urban development.
of local governments and their The meeting made some practical
partners to improve priority urban recommendations on improved
environmental services and reduce training methods. UN-HABITAT’s
poverty. local office provided training on a
number of urban environmental
In Kenya, UN-HABITAT is involved issues, particularly on ecological
in four water-related schemes: the restoration and sustainable urban
Nairobi River Basin Programme, energy.
the Dallas (Embu) Integrated Basic
Urban Services Project, and the Three publications are in
Kibera and Kisumu Integrated preparation: an introduction
Water Sanitation and Waste to sustainable urbanization, an
Management programmes. “eco-restoration” catalogue and a
sourcebook on sustainable urban
In Mozambique, a programme is energy.
improving water and sanitation
in Quelimane City, while another In 2008 UN-HABITAT and the
one provides for environment Centre for Housing Rights and
mainstreaming and adaptation to Evictions backed up their operational
climate change. and technical efforts with a joint
publication, a Handbook on the
In Asia, an Expert Group Right to Water and Sanitation.
Meeting brought together
39
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

CHAPTER 5:
Strengthened human
settlement finance systems

“We commit ourselves to strengthening existing

financial mechanisms and developing innovative
approaches to finance the implementation of the
Habitat Agenda, supporting adequate shelter and
sustainable human settlements development.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

40

UN-HABITAT’s strategic goal is to improve access to
sustainable financing for affordable housing and infrastructure.
Urbanisation of poverty is one of
the largest challenges the world
is facing today. The persistent
problems of poverty and slums
are largely due to weak urban
economies and finance, in the
absence of the instruments and
institutions required to support
housing and infrastructure finance.
The Habitat Agenda identifies
financial constraints as a major
deterrent for adequate shelter.
Consequently, it calls for domestic
resource mobilization as well
as sound national policies. The
mobilization of local and domestic
capital is a major component of
UN-HABITAT’s strategic vision for
the financing of cities and shelter.
The current global financial
crisis presents an additional
challenge for financing affordable
housing and basic infrastructure,
demanding effective responses.
The credit crunch will have serious
implications for economies around
the world. Although the crisis has
its roots in the sub-prime mortgage
markets in developed countries,
it will also have far-reaching
implications for financial markets
and economies all over the world,
including global partnerships for
development.
Strengthened human settlement finance systems
UN-HABITAT provides a mix of
advocacy, tool development,
normative work and projects on
the ground to establish effective
local finance systems in support
of sustainable urbanization. The
agency is actively engaged in making
private and public capital available
for housing and the necessary
infrastructure, and has undertaken
several activities at the operational
and policy level in 2008.
More formal funding for slum
upgrading
The UN-HABITAT Slum Upgrading
Facility Pilot Programme,
established in 2004, is a technical
cooperation and seed capital
facility with a central purpose: to
test and develop new financial
instruments and methods for
expanding private sector finance
and public sector involvement in
slum upgrading on a large scale.
It is funded by the governments of
the United Kingdom, Norway and
Sweden.
The Slum Upgrading Facility
operates under the premise that
slums can be upgraded successfully
when the existing slum dwellers are
involved in the planning and design
of upgrading projects as “clients”
– since they are the ones taking
the financial risk of repayment.
SUF works with local actors to
make slum upgrading projects
“bankable” – that is, attractive to
retail banks, property developers,
housing finance institutions,
service providers, micro-finance
institutions, and utility companies.
The facility has pilot projects in
Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
Tanzania, where various approaches
are being tested to support the
purpose of the Pilot Programme.
2008 saw the launch of a new
type of scheme designed to help
local communities mobilize funding
for slum upgrading. The first so-
called Local Finance Facilities were
introduced in Ghana, Indonesia
and Sri-Lanka and complement the
existing range of Pilot Programmes
under UN-HABITAT’s broader Slum
Upgrading Facility.
Local finance facilities help
community groups access formal
commercial credit through credit
enhancements and guarantees,
further mitigating risk with
technical support to bring projects
to completion.
The first such facilities were
established in the municipalities
of Solo and Jogjakarta, Indonesia,
and in SAEMA and Tema, Ghana.
Also in 2008, Sri-Lanka set
up a nationwide local finance
facility. In these countries, the
41
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Slum Upgrading Facility and the
Local Finance Facilities together
supported over 20 specific projects
that had been put forward by local
stakeholders; the projects opened
up access to a range of institutions
including retail banks, property
developers, housing finance and
service providers, micro-finance
institutions and utility companies.
The schemes also provide
opportunities to test a variety of
financial approaches with a view
to future replication. A nationwide
local finance facility is underway in
Tanzania.
42
Local Finance Facilities
are designed as long-term
sustainable ventures, run by
dynamic and varied boards. They
finance themselves from the
investment income derived from
the Credit Enhancement Funds
established at the core of each
facility.
In 2008 the SUF also supported
community efforts to mobilize
and organize around slum
upgrading, as well as building
strong partnerships with local
authorities and higher levels of
government.
Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo © S. Mutter
Experiments and
innovations
Significant progress has also been
achieved in 2008 with regard to
the implementation of Governing
Council Resolution GC 21/10,
“Strengthening the Habitat and
Human Settlements Foundation:
experimental financial
mechanisms for pro-poor housing
and infrastructure”. These
activities included the following:
- Field-testing ‘Experimental,
Reimbursable Seeding and
other innovative Operations’
for urban poor housing finance,

infrastructure and upgrading
through community groups, and
- Strengthening the capacity of
local financial and development
bodies to carry out those
innovative operations, and to
support the capacity of UN-
HABITAT to enhance them.
Key activities in 2008 have
included the development
of operational procedures
and an Operations Manual
with the Working Group of
the Committee of Permanent
Representatives, which endorsed
these documents. UN-HABITAT
also hosted an international
expert meeting in April 2008 to
define the ‘experimental financial
mechanisms’ approach and gather
project ideas in different countries.
In mid-2008, the Executive
Director made a number of
specialist appointments at
regional level and established
a Steering and Monitoring
Committee for the experimental
mechanisms approach, which
includes international experts
experienced in low-income
housing and infrastructure
finance. The inaugural meeting
took place on 25- 26 September
2008 in Nairobi and reviewed 13
project proposals. UN-HABITAT
has subsequently consulted
with various potential partners
to develop business plans for
experimental operations in Africa,
Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Advocacy: Exploring
synergies
In 2008, UN-HABITAT promoted
urban economic development
Strengthened human settlement finance systems
strategies and policies as
well as balanced urban-rural
development, including local
economic development pilot
projects in Africa’s Lake Victoria
region (see chapter 2 for details)..
As far as advocacy is concerned,
the agency further explored
the synergies between urban
economy and finance. At the
World Urban Forum in Nanjing,
a special session discussed
the global financial crisis
and its impact, spearheading
a subsequent dialogue on
‘productive and equitable cities’.
This highlighted the importance
to urban residents of productive
municipal expenditure on
improved housing and basic
services. Another seminar at the
Forum promoted public-private
partnerships in housing and
urban development, including
new approaches to urban and
community development.
Water and sanitation
With only another six years
remaining to meet the
Millennium Development Goals,
and with huge funding gaps still
posing a major constraint on
expanded access to water and
sanitation services, the need to
increase the flow of investment
into the water and sanitation
sector remains primary focus
of the UN-HABITAT Water and
Sanitation Trust Fund activities.
In this respect, the agency
seeks to use partnerships
with the development banks
to link its own work on pre-
investment capacity-building and
demonstration projects to the
banks’ lending priorities, as a
means of expediting the design,
processing and approval of follow
up investments. UN-HABITAT also
looks to leverage resources from
governments, local financing
institutions and the private sector
for basic infrastructure.
During 2008, these two
approaches showed good results.
In Africa, collaboration with the
African Development Bank has
led to over USD132 million in
approved projects for Zanzibar
and Kenya. Ongoing project
formulation work in Ethiopia
and the five countries in the
Lake Victoria basin is expected
to lead to a further USD184
million in follow-up investments
in 2009-2010. In Asia, the
Memorandum of Agreement
with the Asian Development
Bank envisages a total
investment of USD321.5 million
over the 2007-2011 period.
The collaboration with the
development banks was further
strengthened in 2008 following
the signing of Memorandum of
Understanding with the Inter-
American Development Bank,
with subsequent projects under
development in Bolivia, Colombia
and Mexico. Consultations
have also been initiated with
the European Investment Bank
regarding a possible collaboration
that would aim, initially, at
the deployment of water and
sanitation projects in three large
towns in Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda.
Plans to leverage funds from
government institutions, banks
and the private sector for water
and sanitation have also been
launched, especially in Asia.
Noteworthy examples include
the mobilizing of USD208,000
43
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
from a local mining company
in Laos (which is matched by
another USD531,000 for the local
governments) and leveraging
some USD2.5 million from the
National Housing Bank of India
to provide for micro-finance for
water and sanitation.
The success in leveraging
resources hinges on a great
extent, on the effectiveness of
the Water and Sanitation Trust
Fund’s pre-investment activities
and, also the impact of the pilot
projects in achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals.
In this regard, the pilot projects
implemented have provided
access to water and sanitation for
an estimated 750,000 people in
2008.
44
Technical ‘Review’ series
In 2008 UN-HABITAT
strengthened the normative
work of human settlements
finance with the launch of a
Human settlements finance
system review’ series, a timely
contribution in the middle of
a global financial crisis. Seven
country reviews were published
in 2008, covering developing
regions and including Bolivia,
China, Indonesia, Peru, South
Africa and Thailand.
UN-HABITAT also launched
a report series on Human
settlements finance tools
and best practices. The series
looks beyond systematic
and policy issues to focus on
practical ‘how-to’ knowledge
and techniques. The branch also
produced guides and instruments
on social housing finance, social
housing investment funds,
community-based mortgage
finance, urban community funds
and community land trusts.
A separate report reviewed
the challenges of affordability,
accessibility and sustainability
in adequate housing provision
for all. Another highlighted the
importance of governments and
public instruments in meeting the
housing needs of the poor.
In 2008 UN-HABITAT also
published a guide to Asset-
based Approaches to Community
Development.

Somalia: Municipal
finance systems
improved
Somalia is a good example of what
UN-HABITAT can do to build the
capacities of municipal finance
departments and improve systems
for public sector accounting
and revenue collection by local
authorities and water utilities.
The strengthening of municipal
finance systems in north-
west Somalia (“Somaliland”)
was strongly linked to land
management activities, allowing
for better urban management
and increased municipal revenue
from land and property taxes. A
GIS-based property database was
created from a comprehensive
property inventory carried
Strengthened human settlement finance systems
out in Hargeisa (the capital of
Somaliland) in 2004 and 2005.
The Urban Land Information
database was subsequently
used in Hargeisa to develop a
computerized property taxation
system with proper staff. The
interlinked property database and
automated taxation system has
since resulted in a remarkable
rise in municipal property tax
revenue. At the same time,
service delivery was improved by
a number of capital investment
projects, including road-paving,
upgrading five public markets and
streetlights along major roads.
In 2008, similar property surveys
and Geographical Information
System database developments
continued in Boroma and
Berbera to enhance municipal
revenue collection and improve
service delivery. Accounting and
information management systems
came on stream in seven Somali
municipalities.
In 2009, following a ministerial
request, accounting and
information management systems
will be established in the Somali
Ministry of Interior, the Magistrate
of Accounts and the Hargeisa
Water Agency (the latter in
partnership with Italy’s Africa
’70). UN-HABITAT also envisages
a fully fledged capacity-building
intervention for 2009–2010, to
be aligned with the UN Joint
Programme on Local Governance
and Decentralized Service
Delivery.
Photos © UN-HABITAT
45
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

CHAPTER 6:
excellence in management

“We recognize the need for an integrated approach and

concerted action to achieve the objective of adequate shelter
for all and sustainable human settlements development,
and will strive for coordinated implementation of
international commitments and action programmes.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

46

The strategic goal for UN-HABITAT is to deliver
the results planned under its Medium-Term Strategic
and Institutional Plan effectively and efficiently.
UN-HABITAT’s future success in urban
poverty reduction and improving cities
depends on effective institutional
reform. Guided by an Action Plan
for the Medium-term Strategic and
Institutional Plan (2008-2013), UN-
HABITAT significantly strengthened its
delivery capacities during 2008. Key
achievements include matching up to
the ongoing United Nations reform
process, implementing results-based
management, strengthened human
resources and administrative systems,
and improved resource mobilization
and communications.
United Nations reform
More effective country support is a
priority for UN-HABITAT in the context
of United Nations reform process
and the 2005 Paris Declaration on
Aid Effectiveness. The production
of 33 Habitat Country Programme
Documents by the end of 2008
strengthened engagement with
national governments, United
Nations Country Teams, and the UN
Development Assistance Framework.
This has enabled UN-HABITAT to
define its own comparative advantage
as part of the integrated United
Nations country framework, building
on its integrated programme of
normative and operational activities.
UN-HABITAT has also been
harmonizing its operations with best
practices drawn from within the
UN system in business processes,
knowledge management, auditing,
monitoring and evaluation.
Results-based
management
Building a results-oriented
management culture has been a
core objective of the organization in
2008. Guided by the strategic plan,
UN-HABITAT developed a results
framework for the six focus areas.
These will become the principal means
for ensuring joint commitment to, and
accountability for, focus area results.
The framework is the cornerstone of
the agency’s monitoring, evaluation,
accountability and supervision systems
for better programme delivery.
Strengthened human
resources, administrative
and management systems
Staff skills and expertise are
UN-HABITAT’s greatest assets.
excellence in management
Competency profiling for
professional staff has already
reduced gaps for effective
programmme delivery. Staff
development and training has
intensified, in particular in the area
of monitoring, evaluation and
results-based management, with
more than 40 staff trained in the
latter.
To deliver cost-effectively, UN-
HABITAT realised that its business
processes needed an overhaul
and throughout the year it honed
its operating procedures. It also
prepared for the adoption in 2011
of International Public Sector
Accounting Standards – considered
the most transparent for public-
sector institutions.
Resources to achieve
results
For effective programme delivery as
defined by the 2008-2013 plan, UN-
HABITAT needs predictable funding.
The top resource mobilization
priorities in 2008 were to expand
the donor base, increase general-
purpose contributions, as well as the
proportion of funding coming from
multi-year framework agreements.
In early 2008, a new Resource
Mobilization Unit was set up to
ensure a more corporate approach
to resource mobilization, building
confidence, and strengthening
47
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Morogoro food market, United Republic of
Tanzania, 2003.
Photo © UN-HABITAT
consistent messaging and
communications. As part of
the roll-out of the resource
mobilization strategy, a set of
Guiding Principles and a Code of
Conduct for resource mobilization
in UN-HABITAT were issued, in a
bid to facilitate common standards
for approaching development
partners.
The year 2008 also saw a trend
towards multi-year framework
agreements. The Government
of Norway signed a Programme
Cooperation Agreement for 2008-
2009, and discussions regarding
framework agreements for
48
specific focus areas were launched
with other bilateral donors. The
European Commission funded a
multi-year programme in slum
upgrading in several countries in
the African, Caribbean and Pacific
group included in the European
development cooperation scheme.
Partnerships are central to the
catalytic role of UN-HABITAT,
and integral to the resource
mobilization strategy. United
Nations and other partners have
shown an increasing degree
of interest in cooperation and
provision of assistance in post-
conflict situations, particularly in
the housing, land and property
rights sector. In the private sector,
agreements were reached with
BASF, Google.org, Coca-Cola and
Oxiana Ltd (now known as OZ
Minerals). These arrangements
mark a step forward in mobilizing
broad partnerships for the
financing of affordable housing
and related urban infrastructure.
Effective communication
through new,
compelling branding
Building more effective and clear
communication has been a core
objective for UN-HABITAT in
2008. Better alignment towards
sustainable urbanization is to be
achieved through greater effective
communication and information
sharing at all levels within the
organization and with its closest
development partners.
A new branding concept for UN-
HABITAT was launched at the 4th
World Urban Forum in November
2008 and implemented across the
organization.
An online
‘catalogue’ of projects
In order better to publicize its
ongoing activities with current
and potential partners, UN-
HABITAT is to make available
an online catalogue of ‘bankable
projects’ in the various regions
and countries. This will come
as part of the agency’s efforts to
improve marketing and attract
more core funding. The online
catalogue will showcase UN-
HABITAT’s specific comparative
advantages as well as the set of
services offered in connection
with its specific mandate, i.e.,
sustainable urbanization. The
catalogue will also provide donors
and partners with a ‘one-stop
shop’ enabling them to leverage
their resources with ongoing
country or regional programmes
and projects.
OUR RESOURCES AND
EXPENDITURE
UN-HABITAT receives most
of its income from voluntary
contributions received from
governments and inter-
governmental donors. Other
partners such as local authorities,
the private sector, multi-lateral
organizations and other United
Nations system organizations also
make contributions mainly to
specific programmes.
UN-HABITAT’s main sources of
funding are:
- Regular Budget allocations
approved by the General
Assembly against assessed

Youth following the proceedings of World Urban Forum in China, 2008.
contributions of Member States
(core funding)
- General Purpose contributions
towards the United Nations
Habitat and Human Settlements
Foundation (Foundation).
These are the non-earmarked
voluntary contributions from
Governments. This core
funding is allocated according
to priorities agreed by the UN-
HABITAT Governing Council
figure 6.1: distribution of funds received by un-habitat during the year
2008
Special purpose
12%
81%
7%
*Note: The core funding is comprised of General Purpose contributions and the
UN Regular Budget
Photo © UN-HABITAT
- Special Purpose contributions
which are earmarked
voluntary contributions from
Governments and other donors
for the implementation of
specific activities included in the
approved work programme
HOW THE MONEY IS USED
The contributions are either
used for direct project execution
at the country level – technical
27%
54%
excellence in management
cooperation – or go towards
the Foundation for normative
work.
In 2008, UN-HABITAT received
General Purpose contributions
amounting to USD 20 million
and special purpose funding of
USD 134.2 million. Of the Special
Purpose funds received, USD
45.5 million was for Foundation
activities and USD 88.7 for
technical cooperation activities.
Part of the agency’s earmarked
funding goes to the following trust
funds:
The Water and Sanitation
Trust Fund
In its drive to achieve the
water target of the Millennium
Development Goals, UN-HABITAT
set up a Water and Sanitation
Trust Fund in 2002 to help
municipalities reach out to the
poorest and offering contributors
an opportunity to target a high-
priority sector with a clear set of
objectives.
To date, the fund has signed
agreements of USD 12,455,556
(Canada), USD 32,480,500 (the
Netherlands), USD 23,758,980
(Norway), USD 26,134,371 (Spain),
USD 5,573,586 (Sweden),
USD 3,000 (Poland), USD 150,000
(Coca Cola India), USD 208,000
(Oxiana Ltd/Lane Xang Minerals),
USD 1,800,000 (Google ) and
USD 100,580 (United Nations
General Trust Fund).
The Special Human Settlements
Programme for the
Palestinian People
The Trust Fund for The Special
Human Settlements Programme
49
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

Fund has signed agreements of

The Medium-Term Strategic and USD 7,890,000 (Saudi Arabia), USD
Institutional Plan 750,000 ( Bahrain), USD 100,000
(Oman), USD 500,000 (USA), USD
296,582 (Sweden), USD 67,380
TABLE 6.1: Contributions received towards the MTSIP (Sudan), USD 50,000 (Russian
Federation), USD49,980 (China),
Donor Amounts Amounts in US$ USD 354,000 (Arab Authority
Sweden (2007) SEK 3,000,000 469,920 for Agricultural Investment and
Italy 1,200,000 1,744,800 Development) and USD 199,985
(Al-Marktoum). The total amount
Canada (CMHC) CAD$ 75,000 73,972
of USD 10,257,927 was received
Norway NOK 17,000,000 3,393,208 during the period of 2003-2008.
Sweden (2008) SEK 21,000,000 2,686,845
Total 8,368,745
Donor contributions
The increase in contributions to UN-
HABITAT shows strong support for
for the Palestinian People was work with research institutions to its work and achievements. In 2007,
established to address the housing collect socio-economic data through UN-HABITAT’s Governing Council
situation and related human the creation of urban observatories, endorsed the agency’s Medium Term
settlements needs of people support the development of a Strategic and Institutional Plan for
living in the occupied Palestinian Palestinian human settlements policy 2008-2013 and approved a budget
territories. The objectives of the (with related strategies for housing of USD 15 million for 2008-2009
Programme are to build institutional and urban development), establish a to kick-start the plan, focusing on
capacity and coordination planning framework, and implement projects that will help accelerate its
mechanisms in the field of human housing and settlements upgrading. achievement.
settlements, promote affordable
mechanisms for housing finance, The Technical Cooperation Trust
Ensuring more sustainable
funding
UN-HABITAT relies on a small group
figure 6.2: Trend in donor contributions (2001 - 2008)
of contributors for the majority of
its funding. In 2008, the agency
embarked on an aggressive
resource-mobilization strategy in
order to better its fund-raising
efforts, widen its donor base and
achieve more sustainable funding
for its work; this will be achieved
through annual donor conferences
with development partners to
engage them more actively in the
work of the organization.

“Thousands of people are displaced

and at risk. Supplies of food,
water, fuel and essential medicines
are acutely low in many densely
populated areas.

50
 excellence in management

The Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan

TABLE 6.2: Total Contributions – Top 10 donors, 2006-2008

2006 2007 2008

USD 135,474,837 USD 164,477,770 USD 165,841,979
Country 0% Country % Country %
1 Sweden 12 1 Spain 11 1 Spain 11
2 Netherlands 10 2 Norway 10 2 Norway 11
3 Canada 8 3 Sweden 10 3 Japan 10
4 Norway 8 4 Netherlands 8 4 United Kingdom 7
5 European Union 7 5 Regular Budget 7 5 Regular Budget 7
6 UN Regular Budget 7 6 Canada 5 6 Sweden 7
7 United Kingdom 3 7 Italy 4 7 European Union 4
8 Afghanistan 2 8 United Kingdom 2 8 Canada 2
9 Italy 1 8 European Union 2 9 Netherlands 2
10 Switzerland 1 10 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 2 10 United States 1
Others 40 Others 39 Others 38

Nanjing International Conference Centre. Photo © City of Nanjing

51
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

2008 milestones

“We recognize the need for an integrated approach and

concerted action to achieve the objective of adequate shelter
for all and sustainable human settlements development,
and will strive for coordinated implementation of
international commitments and action programmes.”
--- The Habitat Agenda

52
 2008 Milestones

The year 2008 started on a sad note for UN-HABITAT and President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono of Indonesia feted UN-
the entire UN community in Kenya as the host country was
HABITAT for its work in post-disaster
engulfed in chaos that erupted after disputed presidential reconstruction in his country.
elections at the close of the previous year. Mrs. Tibaijuka, in
an earnest appeal to an end to the mayhem, sounded the alarm In April, the Government of
Norway pledged USD 25.6 million
that the violence was not only affecting Kenya but had far-
to help implement a new medium-
reaching implications on other countries in the region as well. term strategic plan aimed at
strengthening the agency. In that
“Transport corridors from the port figures of the dead and displaced same month, Mrs. Tibaijuka took
of Mombasa through Kenya are were simply unacceptable. part in the Olympic Torch Relay in
restricted, causing supply chain Every effort had to be made to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
disruption to our humanitarian arrest and reverse the situation
and peace-keeping operations in a country where the world Giving a lecture at the Warsaw
in the region, for example for body, counting all staff and School of Economics, Mrs.
Southern Sudan, Uganda and their dependents, make up an Tibaijuka outlined the crucial role of
parts of the Democratic Republic estimated 15,000 people, most of urbanisation to staff and students
of Congo,” Mrs. Tibaijuka said. them Kenyans. of the prestigious Polish institution.
Speaking to over 400 students
In the same month, Tanzanian The month of February saw a
and to faculty members headed by
Head of State Jakaya Mrisho landmark agreement signed
the Rector of the School Professor
Kikwete honoured UN-HABITAT between the executive branch
when he inaugurated the Adam Budnikowski, representatives
of the European Union and
rehabilitation works the agency of central institutions and
UN-HABITAT that will see 90
carried out at Nyamwala Springs, media, Mrs. Tibaijuka underlined
municipalities in 30 countries
some 600 kilometres north east of improving living conditions in the economic dimension of
Dar es Salaam. a sustainable way. This marked urbanisation phenomena.

As the country’s leadership tried
to put an end to the crisis, UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
paid a morale-boosting visit
to Kenya where he reiterated
the world body’s support to its
members of staff based there.
The Secretary General noted
that the situation in Kenya had
deteriorated and that the violence
had spread, adding that the
the first time that the agency
has received a grant from the
EuropeAid Co-operation Office
and its ACP fund benefiting the
African, Caribbean and Pacific
group of countries.
United Nations Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon appointed Dr. Awni
Behnam as Commissioner General
for the organisation’s pavilion at
the Shanghai World Expo 2010.
“Cities drive national economies in
industrialised countries and even
nations in economic output” the
Executive Director, adding that
this may be observed also in the
developing world, where cities
generate a large share of national
income. The importance of cities
for national economic and social
development cannot be overlooked,
especially by the future elites.

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The 16th Session of the
Commission on Sustainable
Development was held in New
York in May and it recognized
the importance of sustainable
urbanization for overall
sustainable development. That
same month UN-HABITAT and the
UN Environmental Programme,
in collaboration with the Local
Governments for Sustainability
(ICLEI) launched two publications
with selected case studies from
around the world on cities,
ecosystems and biodiversity
A report by UN-HABITAT was
released at the meeting showing
that when it comes to land and
property rights around the world,
there is no doubt that women get
the short end of the stick. Women
own less than 10 percent of the
property in the developed world,
while in the developing world it
is only two percent, the report
found.
In her foreword to the report,
Secure Land Rights for All, Mrs.
Tibaijuka stated: “Secure land and
property rights for all are essential
to reducing poverty, because they
underpin economic development
and social inclusion. Secure land
rights empower people in both
rural and urban areas to improve
their homes and livelihoods. At the
same time, they help to promote
good environmental management,
improve food security, and assist
directly in the realization of human
rights, including the elimination of
discrimination against women, the
vulnerable, indigenous groups and
other minorities.”
In the same month a seminar
for UN-HABITAT Programme
Managers from 17 African
54
countries, as well as Pakistan and
Palestine opened in Nairobi with a
call on the agency to support and
improve its staff training so that
project funds are better and more
efficiently managed.
UN-HABITAT’s Director of the
Regional Office for Africa and the
Arab States, Alioune Badiane,
appealed to the managers to
be more active in directing their
respective countries towards
self-financed projects and
programmes, saying developing
countries should not expect
outside help to finance low-cost
housing. Badiane stressed that
developing countries should find
the money at home to provide
housing for the poor.
The month of June saw UN-
HABITAT’s work in Afghanistan
receiving a major boost after
high-level visits by the then United
States First Lady Laura Bush and
U.S. Transport Secretary Ms. Mary
E. Peters.
The First Lady met with
representatives of Afghanistan’s
Women’s Teacher Training
Institute. Established in 2004
with funding from the United
States Agency for International
Development, the institute is
supported by UN-HABITAT. The
officials Mrs. Bush met included
UN-HABITAT Programme Manager,
Ms. Hamida Noor, and two literacy
experts, Ms. Mari Anwary and Ms.
Storai Firozi who work with her as
members of the National Literacy
Centre. The Centre supports a
community-based project known
as ‘Learning for Community
Empowerment’ which serves over
300,000 adults and older youth in
20 Afghan provinces.
During the same period, UN-
HABITAT joined the United
Nations Inter-Agency Standing
Committee (IASC), putting the
agency on a new footing in global
humanitarian operations. The IASC
was established in 1992 to shape
humanitarian policy and ensure
coordinated and effective response
to humanitarian crisis.
UN-HABITAT’s role within the
community of humanitarian
organizations involves human
settlements recovery in shelter-,
land- and property-related issues.
In Durban, South Africa, some 600
participants from around the world
congregated for the International
Youth Crime Prevention and
Cities Summit, which opened
with strong calls for young people
to stand firm against violence and
on governments to invest more in
youth-friendly policies.
The Kingdom of Bahrain and
UN-HABITAT announced the
establishment of the Shaikh
Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa
Habitat Award. The award
promotes the ideals and principles
of good governance and equity in
housing and urban development
policies and practice. The award
carries a cash prize of USD 100,000.
It is to be presented to a single
winner every two years at
the World Urban Forum. The
reward will go to an individual
person, or groups, or institutions
responsible for an initiative deemed
outstanding in implementation
of the Habitat Agenda,
the achievement of human
settlements-related Millennium
Development Goals, and the
promotion of international and
South-South cooperation through
the exchange and transfer of
lessons learned from experience.

In a month that was packed with
activities, young people drawn
from two Nairobi slums were
poised to be the first beneficiaries
of a donation by UN Secretary
General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, which is
being administered by UN-HABITAT.
At the beginning of the previous
year, while visiting Kenya, Mr. Ban
Ki-moon was deeply moved at the
poverty he witnessed in Kibera, the
largest slum in Africa. This drove
him to pledge a personal donation
to help train young people living in
Nairobi’s slums.
June also saw the successful
staging of the World Cities Summit
in Singapore. The highlight was
Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka speaks at the Global Celebration of World Habitat day 2008, Angola, 2008.
a warning by the country’s Prime
Minister that sustainable urban
development must combine good
governance, energy efficiency,
effective water management and
air pollution controls based on
proper urban planning.  event in Nanjing on 3- 6 November
Towards the end of June, the
announcement that the 4th World
Urban Forum would still be held in
Nanjing, China was welcome news.
After an earthquake in China’s
Sichuan Province, the country’s
Ministry of Housing and Urban-
Rural Development, which was
hosting the event, had suggested
a possible postponement of the
meeting to enable staff to focus on
the reconstruction effort.
2008 Milestones
However, recognizing the efforts
that have already gone into the
preparations for the Forum by
Habitat Agenda partners and UN-
HABITAT, the Government of China
confirmed that it would host the
2008.
July saw the Second African
Ministerial Conference
on Housing and Urban
Development (AMCHUD II) take
place in Abuja, Nigeria where
Head of State Umaru Musa Yar’
Adua warned African housing
ministers that governments had
to move beyond talking to action
on the urgent task of delivering
housing, utility services and
Photo © Copyright owned by BSHF
55
un-habitat | 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
pollution management. AMCHUD
is a new regional forum backed by
UN-HABITAT to help governments
deliver on the Millennium
Development Goal of reducing
global poverty.
In August, more than 2,000
water experts from 140 countries
gathered in Stockholm for the
18th annual World Water
Week convention. Addressing
the meeting, HRH the Prince of
Orange congratulated delegates
for helping reduce the number of
people around the world without
access to water and sanitation.
Dutch Crown Prince Willem-
Alexander, who serves as Chair
of the United Nations Secretary-
General’s Advisory Board on Water
and Sanitation, said that efforts to
achieve Target 10 of Millennium
Development Goal N° 7 (halving
the number of people without
access to safe drinking water by
2015) were now starting to pay off.
“The number of people living
without improved drinking water
has now dropped well below
one billion!” he pronounced to
loud applause. “More than half
the global population now have
piped water to their homes, and
the number of people using
unimproved water supplies
continues to decline. That is thanks
to your hard work.”
During a visit to Shanghai,
China Mrs. Tibaijuka signed a
Memorandum of Understanding
and Participation Contract on
behalf UN-of HABITAT, the Lead
agency coordinating the United
Nations System’s participation in
the Shanghai World Expo 2010,
which will focus on cities. She also
officiated at the ground-breaking
56
Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum,
China, 2008.
Photo © UN-HABITAT
ceremony for the UN Pavilion at the
Shanghai Expo 2010 and held a
meeting with Mr. Yu Zhengsheng,
the Communist Party Secretary of
Shanghai on the UN’s participation,
the chosen theme being ‘Better
City, Better Life’.
The month of October started
with the well-established World
Habitat Day. In Angola, President
José Eduardo dos Santos and
senior government officials led the
celebrations in the capital Luanda.
Mrs. Tibaijuka called on the
Angolan authorities to allocate
10 percent of the country’s oil
income to upgrade their towns,
cities and villages for the benefit
of all, especially the poorest of
the poor and with respect for the
human rights of all. She said she
was pleased that the Angolan
authorities were using the occasion
of World Habitat Day to announce
a series of important social housing
initiatives.
The 2008 State of the World
Cities Report was launched in the
same month. On that occasion,
Mrs. Tibaijuka said that the then
prevailing financial crisis ought to
have been viewed as a “housing
finance crisis” in which the poorest
of poor were left to fend for
themselves.
The much-anticipated 4th Session
of the World Urban Forum was
held in November. The Mayor
of the Chinese city of Nanjing,
Jiang Hongkun, China’s Minister
of Housing and Urban-Rural
Development, Jiang Weixin, and
Dejiang Zhang, the Vice Premier
of the People’s Republic of China,
welcomed delegates saying
that the theme of the Forum
– Harmonious Urbanization – was
critically important to the Chinese
government, which attached
great importance to integrated
development.
In the same month, an independent
international jury, chaired by Ms.
Banashree Banerjee of India,
announced the winners of the 2008
Dubai International Awards for
Best Practices to improve the Living
Environment.
The year drew to a close with
the UN Climate Summit held
in Poznan, Poland to discuss a
new framework to tackle climate
change. The United Nations
Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-
moon, said the world had to avoid
backsliding in the fight against
global warming and devise a
“Green New Deal” to fix the twin
climate and economic crises. In
an address to more than 100
environment ministers from around
the world, he said the crises were
an opportunity to address both
challenges simultaneously.